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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PUBLICATIONS 
In RELic1ious EDUCATION 


Edited by 
ERNEST D. BURTON SHAILER MATHEWS 
THEODORE G. SOARES 


HANDBOOKS OF ETHICS AND RELIGION 


This series of Handbooks ts intended to set forth in a 
readable form the results of the scientific study of religion 
and ethics. The various authors do not undertake to em- 
body in any detail the processes which lie back of their 
conclusions. Such technical treatment is more appropri- 
ate for works of a strictly scientific character than for those 
intended not only to be used as textbooks and collateral 
reading in colleges and theological seminaries, but also to 
be of help to general readers. The volumes all seek to 
conserve the values of past religious experience. While 
each author is free to present his own conclusions, the 
volumes have the common characteristic of htstorical 
method. The editors have not prescribed any rigorous 
uniformity of treatment, but believe that the individuality 
of the volumes will serve to stimulate thought and discus- 
ston. It is hoped that the Series will help to show that the 
method of experiment and criticism contributes to stronger 
religious faith and moral idealism.—TueE Epirors. 


THE PROPHETS AND 
THEIR TIMES 


THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 


=e 


THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY 
NEW YORK 


THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
LONDON 


THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 
TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI 


THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY 
SHANGHAI 4 


THE PROPHETS AND 
THEIR TIMES 


By 
J. M. POWIS SMITH 


Professor of the Old Testament Language and Literature 
University of Chicago 


, : UUrareer vie 
ee 





THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO - ILLINOIS 


COPYRIGHT 1925 By 
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 


All Rights Reserved 


Published March 1925 


Composed and Printed By 
The University of Chicago Press 
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. 


olga & 


YS naw 


Pan, 


a) fh g 
ww, 


C / 
2 Wa, Oo YO 


PREFACE 


The prophets are perennially interesting. They repre- 
sent the religion of Israel at its best. They were the spokes- 
men of the progressive idealism of their day, the organs of 
a noble discontent with the established order, the heralds 
of a golden age. 

New books on the prophets are always in order. Each 


» generation needs their message. That message, however, 
2 is not easily comprehended in its fulness. The words of 


one age are not intelligible to the citizens of another, with- 
out interpretation. When to the difference in time and 
circumstance there is added a difference in race, language, 
and culture, the difficulty of understanding is greatly in- 
creased. 

The purpose of this book is not to preach the message 
of the prophets to the men of today. It is rather to show 
as clearly as possible what the prophets were trying to 
do and say in their own generation. To this end a knowl- 
edge of the historical background of their work is neces- 
sary. The prophets were students of their times. They 
were vitally concerned in all that was going on in the 
political and the social world. They sought to guide the 
course of events into the right channels. Hence no under- 
standing of their work is possible apart from a knowl- 
edge of what was going on in the world about them. The 
more accurately the conditions amid which they worked 
are known the more complete will be our appreciation of 
their message. 

The world of the prophets was always changing. New 


vill 


964093 


viii PREFACE 


forces and new personalities were constantly coming to 
the fore. Our knowledge of that world has been greatly 
enriched in recent decades by the discovery and deci- 
pherment of cuneiform and hieroglyphic records. Dis- 
coveries are always in progress. Each new find changes 
the situation for us, and makes necessary modifications in 
our interpretations. The recent reading of documents re- 
garding the fall of Nineveh is a case in point. We not 
merely have to change the date of that event, but we 
must rewrite the history of the last decade of the Assy- 
rian Empire. That involves changes in the reading of 
contemporary Hebrew history. Such things call for new 
books on prophecy. 

In recent years the study of the prophets has con- 
cerned itself increasingly with the psychology of proph- 
ecy. That study is as yet in its infancy; but much may 
be expected of it. Some use has been made of that ap- 
proach to the prophets in this book. Limitations of space 
and the necessarily somewhat precarious character of the 
results of much of that study thus far have precluded 
giving it larger recognition in this handbook. But careful 
work in that field will produce much fruit. 

My obligations to the world of scholars, past and pres- 
ent, are too numerous to mention, but are none the less 
profoundly and gratefully realized. No one man is suf- 
ficient for these things. If this interpretation of the 
prophets has any special value, it is largely due to what 
has been learned from my predecessors. May the reader 
join me in a vote of thanks to them. 

J. M. Powts Smit 


UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 
Christmas Eve, 1924 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


I. 
if 
IIT. 
IV. 
"5 


VI. 


VI. 
VIII. 
IX. 


XI. 
ALt, 
XIII. 
XIV. 
XV. 
XVI. 
XVII. 


(Pae DONS OF THE PROPHETS hoo) Whey) cal Mn, IM 
PROPHETIC LEADERS AND THE UNITED KINGDOM 
PROPHECY AND THE SYRIAN WARS. . . =. . « 
Amos AND HOSEA 


THe ASSYRIAN PERIL: FRom TIGLATH-PILESER TO 
SARGON 


THe ASSYRIAN PERIL: FROM SARGON TO SENNACH- 
ERIB ° ° ° e a . ° e ad 2 a es a es 


THE PROPHETS AND THE SCYTHIANS . , 
VINE ANCELAND LATTE Alls UA 4 A ihe ae 


JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM . . . 


. THE FATHER OF JUDAISM 


THE RISE OF PERSIA AND THE UNKNOWN VOICE 
PREMATURE MESSIANIC HOPEs . 

THE CRY FOR(\VENGEANCE) 2... 5. se 

A CALL TO WORLD-WIDE SERVICE. .. . 

Ai New OUTBURST OF PROPHECY ie) 60) eh Us 
WANTED AND THE MIACCABEERS (2790) Use oe maio. 


ROCHE LUESION 1 ccMIDA eer rec eat ome AT gs) AGN Oa ane 


MACUL Cae, Pica ir OUNG EI te Ghia): ie: \') ease 


INDEX . 


° e e ° e 3 e e e e e 


PAGE 


12 
28 


43 


66 


82 
106 
122 
134 
161 
177 
192 
207 
220 
228 
240 


261 


267 





CHAPTER I 
THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS 


The term “sons of the prophets” is one easily misun- 
derstood. In reality it implies nothing as to the family 
relationships of the prophets. It is an example of idiom 
occurring frequently in the Old Testament. When Noah 
is called “‘a son of five hundred years,’’* we understand 
that he was five hundred years old; when Saul character- 
ized David as “a son of death,’ he meant that David 
ought to be slain; and when the sage spoke of “‘the son of 
a fool,’’ he was not predicating the folly of the father, but 
rather that of the son. Similarly, the “sons of God” in 
Gen. 6:2 are simply ‘‘divine beings,” beings possessing the 
characteristics or essence of divinity; even as “‘son of 
man’ when applied to Ezekiel emphasizes his humanity 
in contrast to the deity of God who speaks to him. In like 
manner, “sons of the prophets” are persons endowed with 
the spirit of the prophets,‘ and not at all sons of prophets 
according to the flesh. Thus the term “sons of the proph- 
ets” is used in the early literature to denote the body of 
prophets as a whole. When Amos said, “I am not a 
prophet, nor the son of a prophet,’’> he was repudiating 
the entire prophetic movement of his day, with which he 
refused to be classified. 

™ Gen. 5:32; cf. Jonah 4:10. 

21 Sam. 20:31. 3 Prov. IO0:1; 17:25; 19:13. 


4Cf. “son of valour” in I Sam. 18:17, meaning “a valiant man”: 
and “‘son of worth” in I Kings 1:52, meaning ‘“‘a worthy man.” 


5 Amos 7:14. 


2 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


These sons of the prophets represent the earliest stage 
in the history of prophecy in Israel. They were a gre- 
garious folk, living and working in groups or communities. 
When Saul left Samuel, after receiving the announcement 
of and anointing for his kingship, he met a company of 
the ‘‘sons of-the prophets” on the road, prophesying as 
they went along; when David fled from Saul to Naioth 
in Ramah, he found himself in the midst of a group of 
“sons of the prophets’’;? when Elisha helped one of the 
“sons of the prophets” who had lost a borrowed axe, a 
community of them was engaged in the task of enlarging 
the living quarters of the group; when Ahab sought the 
counsel of the prophets of Yahweh regarding his proposed 
campaign against Ramoth Gilead, they came together 
four hundred strong and spoke as one man;? when Elisha 
lost his leader, Elijah, he was supported by groups of the 
sons of the prophets at Bethel, at Jericho, and at Gilgal;$ 
and when Jezebel was persecuting the prophets, Obadiah 
hid a hundred of them in caves.° 

What constituted these men prophets? We are told 
that the prophet was in olden times called a “seer.” 
That is the title given to Samuel and to Gad, one of 
David’s prophets,® and later applied to prophets in gen- 
eral. This means that they were credited with the power 
to see things hidden from the eye of the common man. It 
was said of Samuel, for example, “everything that he says 


tT Sam. 10:5 ff. SII Kings 2:3-18; 4:38 ff.; cf. 4:1 and 9:1. 
2T Sam. 19:20. 6T Kings 18:4. 

311 Kings 6:1-7. 7I Sam. 9:9 (cf. vss. ro f., 18 f.). 

4JT Kings 22:6. $11 Sam. 24:11. 


9 II Sam. 15:27; Amos 7:12; Isa. 29:10; 30:10; Mic. 3:7; II Kings 
17:13; 1 Chron. 9:22; 21:9; 25:5; 26:28; 29:29; IL.Chron, opaqumeaene: 
TOC TM LOU era; 80,232 Tages ye: 


SONS OF THE PROPHETS 3 


surely comes to pass.’”* When Ahab and Jehoshaphat 
desired to know in advance whether or not their campaign 
against Ramoth Gilead was to be successful, they called 
together the prophets of Yahweh and inquired of them.? 
It is repeatedly stated of the leaders of Israel that they 
“enquired of Yahweh” before undertaking some enter- 
prise or making some important decision.3 There were 
various ways of doing this, but the prophet’s oracle was 
one of the most important. 

The same belief in the prophet as one who was in a 
certain measure in the confidence of Yahweh is reflected 
in the word “‘prophet”’ itself. This is a Greek word mean- 
ing “one who speaks for, or on behalf of another.” It 
never conveys in and of itself the idea of foretelling or 
prediction. The Hebrew word for “prophet” is accurately 
translated by the Greek equivalent. The sense of the 
Hebrew word (ndv7’) is clearly brought out in two pas- 
sages. In Exod. 4: 10-16 we find Moses striving to escape 
the hard task to which Yahweh is calling him. His first 
excuse is that he is not skilled in public speech, and so is 
not fitted to be an ambassador to the pharaoh. Yahweh 
assures him that he will go with him. “TI will be with thy 
mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.”’ Moses is 
still unwilling; so Yahweh relieves him of the responsi- 
bility of speech, and tells him that Aaron his brother shall 
speak for him. The way in which he phrases this assur- 
ance is noticeable: 

Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak 
het LE And thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his 
mouth: and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth and teach 

tI Sam. 9:6. 2T Kings 22:6 f. 

3 E.g., I Sam. 22:5 ff.; 23:9-12; 30:7 f.; II Sam. 5: 23-25; 21:1. 


4 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman [Hebrew 
navi, ““prophet’’] unto the people; and he shall be to thee instead of 
a mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of God. 


The same conception of the prophet appears in Exod. 
riya: 


And Yahweh said to Moses, “‘See, I have made thee as God to 
Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy spokesman [Hebrew 


ay ¢ 


navi’, ‘prophet’]. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and 
_ Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh.” 


In the light of these and similar statements,’ it is quite 
clear that the prophet was looked upon as one who de- 
clared the will of Yahweh to the people. 

The prophet, however, was not thought of as in a 
state of continual inspiration. His divine illumination all 
too often faded into the light of common day. He was 
thought of rather as one who was susceptible of impres- 
sions from the world of the unseen, and so constituted 
an easy channel of communication between two worlds. 
The coming of the “divine afflatus” upon the prophet was 
not subject to his own volition, but when it came he was 
a helpless victim of its power. The usual phrases indica- 
tive of the reception of the prophetic message are: ““The 
hand of Yahweh was upon,” or ‘“‘came upon,” or “‘fell 
upon,” such and such a man;? and “‘the spirit of God came 
upon,” or “rested,” or “spake by,” or “fell upon,” the 
prophet. The descent of the “hand of Yahweh” or the 


t Cf. Jer. 1:9; Deut. 18:18. 

27. Kings 18:46; 11 Kings 3:15; Ezek. 1:33. 3:14; SO: teusaueeae 
Kien 

3 Num..'11: 26 f.,/20; 24:2; I Sam. ;10:6,/10; 11:6; 16:74)eteeen 
23:2: IT Kings 2:9, 15, 16; Isa. 48°16; 61:1; Joel 2:28 f:-sizemeeee 
11:5; II Chron. 24:20. 


SONS OF THE PROPHETS 5 


“spirit of Yahweh” upon a man or group of men trans- 
ported them beyond the bounds of normal procedure. 
They were plunged into an ecstatic state in which they 
seemed to lose consciousness of the external world. When 
Saul upon his departure from Samuel met a company of 
prophets coming down from the high place and prophesy- 
ing as they came along, he also was seized upon by the 
spirit of prophecy and was turned into another man, 
prophesying as the rest of the group were doing.’ Later, 
when Saul and David had become estranged, Saul sent 
messengers to seize David at Naioth in Ramah; but the 
messengers found Samuel and a band of prophets proph- 
esying around David, and they themselves were seized by 
the contagion of the prophetic spirit, and they too began 
to prophesy. This same experience befell two more bands 
of Saul’s messengers. Then Saul went himself in person; 
but the prophetic frenzy was no respecter of persons, and 
Saul found himself prophesying like the rest of the com- 
pany. The description of his conduct on that occasion is 
significant because it tells not only what Saul did, but 
shows that his conduct was just like that of all the rest. 
“And he stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied 
before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and all 
that night.’ These two cases and the story of the four 
hundred prophets in the days of Ahab seem to indicate 
something like mass prophecy in which what we call 
“mob psychology”’ played a large part. A similar ecstatic 
state seems to have overpowered Balaam when he was 
urged by Balak to curse Israel but could utter nothing 
but blessings: 


*T Sam. 10: 5-13. 
2T Sam. 19:19-24. 


6 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


The spirit of God came upon him. And he took up his parable 
and said: 


“The saying of Balaam the son of Beor, 
And the saying of the man whose eye is opened; 
The saying of him who hears the words of God, 
Who sees the vision of the Almighty, 
Fallen down, yet with opened eyes. .... 


This same ecstatic condition is found elsewhere, as in the 
case of the unknown prophet of Byblos about 1100 B.c. 
who intervened in a state of frenzy in behalf of Wen- 
Amon, the Egyptian envoy to the court of Byblos.? The 
Mohammedan dervishes likewise are at times wrought up 
to a similar pitch of frenzied ecstasy. That this ecstatic 
state was characteristic of early prophecy is attested by 
the fact that the word for ‘‘prophesy”’ is used to describe 
the conduct of Saul after the ‘evil spirit from Yahweh” 
came upon him and transformed him into a lunatic;3 and 
by the further fact that the word for “prophesy” and 
that for ‘‘insane,” ‘‘crazy,” run parallel to each other 
in Jer. 29:26. When one of the sons of the prophets was 
commissioned by Elisha to go to Ramoth Gilead and 
anoint Jehu king of Israel, Jehu’s captains upon his return 
to their company wanted to know who the “mad fellow” 
was who had summoned him from the midst of their 
council of war.4 Still further, as in the case of the der- 
vish, so in that of the prophet, this state of prophetic 
ecstasy could be self-induced. Upon a critical occasion, 
when Jehoram, of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, of Judah, were 
in great need of divine help, they applied to Elisha for 


t Num. 24: 2-4. 
2See my The Prophet and His Problems (1914), pp. 12 ff. 
3] Sam. 18:10. 4IT Kings 9:11. 


SONS OF THE PROPHETS Yi 


his prophetic aid. Elisha protested, but finally yielded to 
their wish, saying: ‘“‘ ‘But now, bring me a minstrel.’ And 
it came to pass that when the minstrel played the hand 
of Yahweh came upon him [viz., Elisha], and he said, 
‘Thus says Yahweh.’’* That prophecy waited upon 
music, at least at times, is also seen from the fact that the 
company of prophets whom Saul met coming down from 
the high place was equipped with “a psaltery, and a 
timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp,” to the strains of which 
they were prophesying.” 

These early prophets were recognizable not only by 
their strange conduct, but also by certain external signs. 
Their manner of life in general was, at least in some cases, 
patterned after the nomad’s way of living. Elijah was 
a typical nomad, living in seclusion on the margin of the 
desert and flitting from place to place with uncanny speed.3 
His later reincarnation, John the Baptist, who perhaps 
modeled his way of living after the traditional conception 
of Elijah, “had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern 
girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild 
honey.’ It seems practically certain that the early pro- 
fessional prophets were marked or branded in some way so 
as to indicate their calling to the eye. In I Kings 20:35-43 
one of the “‘sons of the prophets” is represented as having 
disguised himself in order to entrap Ahab into self-con- 
demnation. When Ahab had put himself upon record, the 
prophet removed “‘the headband away from his eyes, and 
the king of Israel discerned that he was of the prophets.”’ 


t TI Kings 3:1-19. 2T Sam. 10:5. 

3 For the standards of life cherished by the nomads, see the story of 
the Rechabites in Jer. 35:1-11. 

4 Matt. 3:4. 


8 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


The king did not apparently recognize his person, but 
only his class. The headband thus would seem to have 
covered up some brand upon the forehead or some pe- 
culiar tonsure that characterized prophets as such. The 
prevalence of the use of such marks by the prophets is 
attested by Zech. 13: 4-6, where false prophets are charged 
with wearing ‘‘a/hairy mantle to deceive” and with brand- 
ing their hands in some way characteristic of the prophets. 

How did these prophets obtain their living? It is quite 
evident that they expected pay for their services, and 
were in the habit of receiving it. When Saul’s servant 
proposed that Samuel, the seer, should be consulted with 
reference to the finding of the lost asses, Saul made objec- 
tion on the ground that they had nothing with which to 
reward the seer for his services: 


Saul said to his servant, ‘“But behold, if we go, what shall we 
bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is 
no present to bring to the man of God. What have we?” And the 
servant answered Saul again and said, “Behold, I have here at hand 
the fourth part of a shekel of silver: that will I give to the man of 
God to tell us our way.” 


The small amount of the proposed gift? is significant of the 
value placed upon the seer’s service. In like manner, 
when Jeroboam’s son fell ill, the king sent his wife to con- 
sult Ahijah, the prophet, regarding the outcome of the 
sickness, and he instructed her to take with her as a gift 
to the prophet ‘‘ten loaves, and biscuits, and a cruse of 
honey.’? When the king of Syria wished to know through 
Elisha how his own sickness was to terminate, he, too, 
=I Sam. 9:7, 8. A quarter of a shekel was worth about 15 cents; 
but its purchasing power today is far less than it was in ancient times. 
27 Kings 14:3. 


SONS OF THE PROPHETS 9 


sent a messenger with a present to the prophet; but it was 
a present worthy of a king.’ Elisha steadfastly refused 
reward when Naaman, the Syrian, wished to show grati- 
tude for his healing from leprosy, though Gehazi, Elisha’s 
servant, was not so self-denying.? The general opinion of 
the times with reference to the prophets’ desire for money 
is vividly illustrated by the story in Amos 7:10-17. When 
Amos announced the approaching downfall of the house 
of Jeroboam, the chief priest at Bethel sent word to the 
king charging Amos with conspiracy against him, and 
then suggested in insinuating and insulting language that 
Amos go back home to Judah, where such preaching 
would be heartily welcomed and be richly rewarded, for 
disaster threatening Israel would be good news in Judah. 
This stirred Amos to a denial of any connection between 
himself and the professional prophets of his day. They 
might be, and doubtless were, actuated by self-seeking 
motives, but he was driven to his work by the power of 
the spirit of Yahweh. 

As we look back upon the facts here gathered regard- 
ing the prophetic movement in early Israel, we cannot 
escape the conviction that these forerunners of the great 
prophets were to a great extent like prophets and seers in 
non-Hebraic countries. There is the same ecstatic frenzy, 
the same type of soothsaying, or foretelling, and the same 
tendency to commercialize their calling. No historical 
movement, however, is to be judged by its mere begin- 
nings, but rather by its outcome. What did it ultimately 
contribute to human betterment? Prophecy may safely 

‘IT Kings 8:7-0. 

2 TI Kings 5:15-27. 

3See The Prophet and His Problems (1914), pp. 3-35: 


IO THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


permit itself to be estimated by the same standard. The 
prophecy of early Israel met the needs of its day; that age 
was not yet ready for anything more exalted. This early 
prophetic movement already revealed some characteristics 
that were to mark the entire history of prophecy. It rep- 
resented the conviction that the course of history was in 
the hand of God, who had a purpose and plan for his 
people. It believed that this divine plan was from time 
to time revealed step by step to certain men who were in 
the confidence of God. It, therefore, sought with all its 
power to lead the people and the leaders to follow in the 
path indicated by the prophets. Prophecy’s predominant 
interest from the start was in the progress of the com- 
munity or nation, rather than in that of the individual. 
Individuals were of significance only in so far as they 
vitally affected the life of the people as a whole. It is 
noteworthy how many times in early Israel prophecy is 
brought into connection with events and persons of na- 
tional significance. The first reference to the prophetic 
movement in its organized form speaks of the company of 
the prophets as coming down from the ‘“‘hill of God”’ 
where there was “‘a garrison of the Philistines.’’* It is not, 
perhaps, assuming too much to suppose that their proph- 
esying at that particular time was closely connected with 
the presence of the hated invaders. The prophets were 
keenly interested in the varying fortunes of the early 
monarchy, and did not shrink from engaging actively in 
political affairs, helping to make and unmake kings as cir- 
cumstances required. The names of Deborah, Samuel, 
Gad, Nathan, Ahijah, Jehu ben Hanani, Elijah, Elisha, 
and Micaiah ben Imlah, ali recall scenes in which national 


=T Sam. 10:5. 


SONS OF THE PROPHETS GE 


interests were involved, and if these great leaders were 
engaged in political activities, it is evident that the mass 
of their prophetic followers would be at least interested in 
similar matters. In the times of Saul and Ahab, at any 
rate, the masses of the prophetic movement were involved 
in the political situation. 

There is no sharp break between the early prophets 
and the great prophets of later times. The transition from 
early prophecy to later was a process of normal, natural 
growth. The prophets grew with the nation. As the na- 
tion was more and more drawn into the whirl of inter- 
national politics, the outlook of the prophets widened and 
their faith deepened; but they retained the fundamental 
characteristics of prophecy to the very end. It is com- 
monly thought that the later prophets were distinguished 
from the primitive prophets by the fact that they no 
longer were subject to ecstatic seizure, and consequently 
their message was less inspirational and more rational. 
But more recent studies of the psychology of prophecy are 
discovering the fact that the ecstatic and mystical ele- 
ment was more or less characteristic of prophecy to the 
very end.’ The prophets felt themselves to be in a very 
real sense partners with Yahweh in his great work, and 
they expected to hear his voice of inspiration and instruc- 
tion; and they heard it. 

t See, e.g., J. Skinner, Religion and Prophecy (1922), pp. 3 ff.; H. W. 
Hines, ‘“The Prophet as Mystic,” American Journal of Semitic Languages 


and Literatures, XL (1923), 37-71; T. H. Robinson, Prophecy and the 
Prophets (1923), pp. 147 f. 


CHAPTER II 


PROPHETIC LEADERS AND THE 
UNITED KINGDOM 


In this chapter, we shall consider the work of four 
prominent prophets whose activity fell in the years of the 
united kingdom and in the period of preparation for it. 
These leaders were individuals who worked in more or 
less close co-operation with the great company of the sons 
of the prophets, but by their individual initiative and 
force took an outstanding position among their fellows, 
and so left their names permanently impressed upon the 
memory of their people. 

The first of these was a woman, Deborah, the wife of 
Lapidoth,? one of the few women to function as a reli- 
gious leader in Israel.2, Her lot was cast in troublous 
times.3 The nomadic Hebrews had come in from the des- 

t Judg. 4:4. 

2 The title “prophetess” is applied elsewhere to the following women 


only: Miriam (Exod. 15:20), the wife of Isaiah (Isa. 8:3), Huldah (II 
Kings 22:14), and Noadiah (Neh. 6:14). 


3 The story of her influence is contained in Judges, chaps. 4 and s. 
The fifth chapter is generally regarded as one of the earliest documents 
preserved in the Old Testament. It is a paean of triumph over the 
defeat of the embattled Canaanites at the hands of the people of Israel. 
It is great poetry and invaluable for history. The fourth chapter of 
Judges is a prose narrative, dealing, at least in part, with the same situa- 
tion as that celebrated in chap. 5. But it is of later origin, and is appar- 
ently a composite narrative. The differences between chaps. 4 and 5 are 
most naturally accounted for on that basis. In chap. 4, the leader of the 
Canaanites is Jabin, king of Canaan, while Sisera is his commander-in- 
chief; but in chap. 5 Sisera is evidently presented as king in his own right 
and Jabin is not mentioned. As a matter of fact, there never was such 


I2 


PROPHETIC LEADERS 13 


ert regions in such numbers and had taken possession of . 
so much Canaanitish territory that they were fast becom- 
ing a menace to the Canaanites. The Canaanites were 
therefore restricting their expansion and pressing them 
hard, striving to render them impotent. At this juncture 
Deborah took action. She was evidently a well-known 
woman. She was in the habit of seating herself beneath a 
tree and there announcing oracles upon all sorts of ques- 
tions brought to her for answer." Her ability in such mat- 
ters had obtained for her great prestige throughout the 
surrounding country. As she saw the pitiable plight to 
which her people were being reduced, she resolved to risk 
all upon a great move. She therefore selected the best 
available leader, Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh- 
Naphtali, and commissioned him in the name of Yahweh 
to raise a force and strike for freedom. The confidence 


unity in Canaan as to make a “king of Canaan” a possibility in pre- 
Israelite Canaan. In chap. 4 all the tribes around the plain of Esdraelon 
are represented as engaged in the conflict, while in chap. 5 only Zebulon 
and Naphtali participate. In chap. 5 Sisera receives his deathblow while 
awake and standing up, but in chap. 4 he is slain while lying down 
asleep. According to chap. 5, the battle was fought in the plain of Esdrae- 
jon, near Taanach and Megiddo, and on the banks of the river Kishon 
(Judg. 5:19-21); but chap. 4 places the struggle at the foot of Mount 
Tabor (Judg. 4:12-14), 15-20 miles farther north and east as the bird 
flies. From facts such as these it is generally concluded not only that the 
prose story has received some later editorial touching up, but also that 
the narrative is the result of the mixture and confusion of two separate 
accounts. One of these was apparently a record of the battle also recorded 
in Josh. 11:1-15, where Jabin again appears as the leader of the Canaan- 
ites. The other was a later narrative of the struggle recounted in chap. 5. 
The situation out of which the song of Deborah arose is quite clear. 
For further discussion of this question see the commentaries on Judges, 
by George F. Moore (1895), G. A. Cooke (1913), E. L. Curtis (1913), 
and C, F. Burney (1918). 


* Judg. 4:4, 5. 


14 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


placed by Barak in Deborah as the representative and 
mouthpiece of Yahweh was shared by the people at large, 
and in the power of the faith in Yahweh which she in- 
spired a decisive defeat was inflicted upon the Canaan- 
ites. The fact that the Kishon overflowed its banks at 
this very time and helped the Israelites rout the foe made 
the defeat more complete, and gave the Israelites re- 
newed assurance that they were acting in line with the 
will of Yahweh and that he was co-operating with them. 

The contribution of Deborah, the prophetess, was that 
she saw that it was time to act, that she chose the right 
leader for the action, and that she stimulated the faith 
and courage of Israel to the winning-point. She created 
the morale needed for the situation. That hers was no 
easy task is quite evident. The song not only sounds the 
praises of the loyal Israelites who risked their lives and 
property by joining in the effort for freedom, but it also 
calls down curses upon those who should have responded 
to the call for aid but did not. Some of the recalcitrants 
were in a position to realize the situation vividly and to 
reap richly of the fruits of the victory; but they were 
cowards. Reuben, Gilead, Dan, and Asher are chided for 
their indifference and failure to co-operate, but against 
Meroz the poet’s wrath blazes forth fiercely, for Meroz 
was right in the heart of the oppressed region and had 
much to gain; but nothing moved Meroz to action: 

“Curse ye Meroz,” said the angel of Yahweh, 
“Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, 
Because they came not to the help of Yahweh, 
To the help of Yahweh against the mighty.” 

The struggle represented a movement for political in- 

dependence, a desire for economic liberty to expand, and 


PROPHETIC LEADERS 15 


a confidence in Yahweh as willing and able to obtain for 
his people all that they needed and desired. Deborah 
stood forth as the embodiment of both patriotism and 
religion. The victory seems to have dealt the deathblow 
to the political life of the Canaanites. There were no fur- 
ther attempts to oust Israel. 

Conditions in Israel had changed by the time of the 
appearance of Samuel, the next outstanding figure among 
the prophets.* The rdéle of oppressor, relinquished by the 
Canaanites, was now taken by the Philistines, an Aegean 
people who had settled on the Maritime Plain and bade 
fair to overrun all Palestine. Samuel’s task was that of 
inspiring and organizing the Hebrews to undertake the 
struggle with the Philistines for independence. 

The danger from the Canaanites was probably a thing 
of the past by the time of Samuel’s birth. While he was 


t The account of Samuel’s life is given in the first Book of Samuel. It 
is not, however, a single continuous story. The Books of Samuel are, like 
the Hexateuch, a composite product. General agreement obtains among 
scholars upon this proposition; but there is much variation of opinion 
upon the detailed working out of the process of analysis into the original 
sources. But again, there is close agreement as to what is early and what 
is late in the narratives of the life and work of Samuel; and that is all that 
concerns us here. The early narratives concerning Samuel are quite gen- 
erally accepted as the following: I Sam. 9:1—10:16; 16:14-23; 25:1. 
This leaves us with very little historical material of the first order upon 
which to base an interpretation of Samuel. Under these circumstances we 
must have recourse to the next layer of materials and select from them 
what seems most likely to be approximately trustworthy. This later 
matter includes I Samuel, chaps. 1-3; 7:1-17; 8: 1-22; 11:14 f.; chap. 15; 
19:18-24. See for a discussion of these questions the commentaries -on 
Samuel, by H. P. Smith (1899), A. R. S. Kennedy (1905); and also J. A. 
Bewer, The Literature of the Old Testament (1922), S. R. Driver, Introduc- 
tion to the Literature of the Old Testament (1914), G. B. Gray, A Critical 
Introduction to Old Testament History (1907), and S. A. Cook, Critical 
Notes on Old Testament History (1913). 


16 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


growing up, a new foe had appeared upon the scene in the 
person of the Philistines.t They were an aggressive people, 
and they rapidly made for themselves a large place in 
Palestine. They were apparently in a fair way to reduce 
their Israelite neighbors to vassalage. Indeed, we are told 
in I Sam. 13:19~22 that the Philistine oppression had pro- 
ceeded so far that the making of agricultural implements 
and weapons of war had been prohibited by them in Israel, 
so that the trade of “‘smith” had fallen into abeyance 
among the Hebrews. Another narrative, which is prob- 
ably based upon old records regarding the Ark,’ tells of 
two defeats of the Hebrews by the Philistines in the second 
of which the Ark was captured and carried off into Phil- 
istine territory. When pestilence broke out among the 
Philistines, it was naturally attributed to the anger of the 
foreign god whose shrine had been thus desecrated; and so 
the Ark was returned by the Philistines with offerings of 
propitiation. Amid stirring events like this the young 
Samuel grew up. These disasters and accompanying acts 
of oppression constituted the themes of conversation among 
the groups of patriotic Hebrews surrounding him. Such 
events fed the fires of his youthful patriotism, and did 
much to arouse in him the spirit of prophecy. 

The fact that Samuel made a deep impression upon 
his times is shown by the large amount of traditional ma- 
terial that gathered about his name and has been per- 
petuated unto this day. Samuel, chapters 1-3, seems to 
be a section from a collection of legendary lives of the 
prophets, made, perhaps, somewhere about the time of 


* For a good history of the Philistines, see R. A. Stewart Macalister, 
The Philistines—Their History and Civilization (“Schweich Lectures,” 
1911). London: Oxford University Press, 1913. 


77 Sam. 4:1—6: 21. 


PROPHETIC LEADERS 17 


the Deuteronomic reform under King Josiah. Here we are 
told of the birth of Samuel in answer to the agonizing 
prayer of Hannah, his mother, and her vow to dedicate 
her boy, if her prayer is granted, to the service of Yahweh 
in his temple at Shiloh. Loyal to her vow, she takes the 
child at the earliest possible moment that he can dispense 
with his mother’s care and leaves him in the sanctuary at 
Shiloh under the care of Eli, the priest. Her mother-love 
found touching expression in the making of a little mantle 
or cloak every year which she took to her child upon the 
occasion of the annual pilgrimage to the festival at Shiloh. 
Samuel, meantime, “‘grew in favour both with Yahweh 
and also with men.”’ Finally, while still a boy, he received 
his first message from Yahweh in the form of an announce- 
ment of the overthrow of Eli and his house on account of 
the sins of Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. This 
wonderful child 

.... grew and Yahweh was with him, and did let none of his words 
fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew 
that Samuel was established as a prophet of Yahweh. And Yahweh 
appeared again in Shiloh; for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in 


Shiloh in the word of Yahweh. And the word of Samuel came to 
all Israel. 


Not only so, but chapter 7 goes on to tell of a miraculous 
overthrow of the Philistines at Mizpeh, as a result of 
which 

. ... the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the 
border of Israel, and the hand of Yahweh was against the Philis- 
tines all the days of Samuel; and the cities which the Philistines had 
taken from Israel were restored to Israel from Ekron even unto 
Gath; and the borders thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of 
the Philistines.? 


tI Sam. 3:19-4:14. 27 Sam. 7:13-14. 


18 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Thus Samuel is made the deliverer of his people once for 
all from the power of the oppressor. 

Much of the foregoing narrative is lacking in historical 
verisimilitude. At two points, in particular, it is subject 
to correction on the basis of earlier narratives. Samuel 
did not expel the Philistines from the territory of Israel, 
for that great task was left for the young King Saul to 
enter upon. Indeed, we are told that “there was sore war 
against the Philistines all the days of Saul’’;? and Saul’s 
last fight with the Philistines brought him defeat and 
death. Not until the reign of David were the Philistines 
finally brought to terms.’ In like manner, the early influ- 
ence of Samuel is greatly magnified. Instead of “the word 
of Samuel” coming ‘‘to all Israel,’ he seems to have been 
known at first throughout only a quite limited area. We 
read in I Sam. 7:16 f. that Samuel’s home was at Ramah 
and that from there he went out annually on a circuit 
that included Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh, at which points 
he “‘judged Israel.” These names, with Shiloh added, rep- 
resent a territory at the most not more than 20 miles from 
north to south and 2 miles from east to west. Not only 
so, but when Saul’s servant spoke to him of Samuel as a 
seer who could tell him what had become of the lost asses, 
Saul apparently was hearing about Samuel for the first 
time; and that notwithstanding the fact that Saul’s 
home at Gibeah was but a short distance from Samuel’s 
headquarters. This would certainly be inconceivable if 
Samuel had occupied such a place in the public mind 
as the later stories assign to him. 

tT Sam. 14:52. 

21 Sam. 31:1-6. 

3 II Sam. 8:1; 23:9-17. 41 Sam. 0:5 ff., 18 f. 


PROPHETIC LEADERS 19 


At another point, also, the later records seem to mis- 
represent Samuel. The desire on the part of Israel for a 
king is represented as having displeased Samuel to such a 
degree that Yahweh had to overrule him and order him to 
comply with the prophet’s request." The chapter in which 
this point of view appears was written by an author who 
disapproved of the institution of the monarchy and wrote 
against the background of a long history of the monarchy 
in Israel. There are three accounts of the anointing of 
Saul as king. In the first, he is selected by Samuel private- 
ly, at the instigation of Yahweh, is anointed secretly, and 
accepts reluctantly, being distrustful of his prestige and 
his influence over the people.? In the second account, 
Samuel is represented as having summoned all the tribes 
of Israel unto Mizpah, where he casts lots until the lot 
falls upon Saul, who, when found hiding among the bag- 
gage, is dragged forth and anointed publicly amid the 
acclamations of the people. This is quite evidently a part 
of the later tradition, for it shows Samuel as holding the 
same attitude of hostility to the monarchy as was seen in 
I Samuel, chapter 8. In the third record, Saul is seen as 
a bold patriot who rises to the occasion when a call comes 
from the menof Jabesh Gilead for help against the Ammon- 
ites, who are about to devastate their city. Saul sends 
out a ringing challenge to the surrounding country that 
meets with a hearty response, organizes the volunteers in- 
to three divisions, falls suddenly upon the Ammonites 
from three directions, and utterly routs them. In grateful 
enthusiasm the people hail Saul as king and proceed to 
Gilgal, where they ‘‘made him king before Yahweh,” and 

ei Sam, 8: 1-22. 

2T Sam. g:1—10:9. 3I Sam. 10:17-27. 


20 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


rejoiced greatly.’ Samuel appears here after the victory as 
the one who proposes the public ratification of Saul’s 
kingship.? This note is in such close keeping with the 
point of view in I Sam. 10: 25-27 that it is quite generally 
looked upon as an editorial addition made to bring 
this narrative of anointing into harmony with the one in 
ISam. 10:17-27. In the first and third of these coronation 
stories the anointing of Saul grows directly out of the dis- 
turbed political and military situation, and both of them 
may be essentially correct. In the first, Samuel fires the 
young patriot with a holy and patriotic zeal to deliver his 
people. In the third, the opportunity presents itself to 
strike a telling blow for liberty and for Yahweh; and Saul 
rushes to the defense of Jabesh Gilead and thus earns his 
position as king. The first story in which Samuel anoints 
Saul in private may possibly be due to the growth of 
prophetic tradition which claimed for itself all the honor 
it could. There are elements in the story that look like the 
work of the later prophetic mind; but, in the absence of 
positive proof to the contrary, we may well allow Samuel 
credit for initiating in Saul’s mind the dream of freeing 
his people from their oppressors. 

The next occasion upon which we meet Samuel is in 
connection with the rejection of Saul as king. Of this 
event there are also two accounts. In Samuel, chapter 13, 
Saul is repudiated by Samuel for a reason that does not 
clearly appear. In I Samuel, chapter 15, the rejection is 
based upon the fact that Saul has not carried out faith- 
fully the command of Yahweh to exterminate the Amale- 
kites. The explanation of the rejection of Saul given in 

tT Sam. 11:1-11, 15. 

2J Sam. 11:12-14. 


PROPHETIC LEADERS 21 


I Sam. 15:70-15a is that Saul, after mustering his forces 
for an attack upon the Philistines, grew impatient over 
Samuel’s failure to keep his appointment, and so pro- 
ceeded to offer the sacrifices necessary before launching 
battle against the foe without waiting longer for the 
delinquent prophet. At this juncture Samuel appeared 
and proceeded to read Saul out of the kingship. The rea- 
son given is that Saul has “not kept the commandment” 
of Yahweh. If the fact that he had sacrificed with his own 
hands constituted his offense in the eyes of this narrator, 
then he must have written very late; for other laymen are 
represented as offering sacrifice without offense, e.g., 
David, Solomon, and Elijah. There was no law against 
the offering of sacrifice by a layman until the adoption of 
the Deuteronomic Code in the days of King Josiah. Hence 
these verses in chapter 13 are rightly treated as of late 
origin by most modern interpreters.’ The story of the re- 
jection in chapter 15 is to the effect that Samuel com- 
municated to Saul the order of Yahweh that he should de- 
stroy Amalek, leaving neither human being nor animal 
alive, but devoting the whole people and all that they 
possessed as a herem to Yahweh. Saul, however, brought 
back some of the live stock as spoil and led the captive 
King Agag in triumph back to Gilgal. There he encoun- 
tered Samuel, who rebuked him for his disregard of the 
divine command, saying to him: 

Does Yahweh delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices 

As in hearkening to the voice of Yahweh? 

Verily, to hearken is better than sacrifice, 


To give heed than the fat of rams. 
For disobedience is as the sin of divination, 


tSo, e.g., H. P. Smith, Kennedy, Budde, Nowack, and Kittel, Joc. cit. 


22 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


And presumption is as the guilt of the teraphim. 
Because thou hast rejected the word of Yahweh, 
He has rejected thee from being king over Israel.t 


Thereupon Samuel “hewed Agag in pieces before Yahweh 
in Gilgal.”” The point of view and spirit of this narrative 
are primitive enough, surely, to warrant relatively early 
origin. There is every reason to suppose that here we are 
in touch with reality, that a vivid picture of the thought 
and feeling of Samuel’s day is flashed before us. It seems 
altogether reasonable to accept the attack upon Amalek 
and the disagreement between Samuel and Saul as to the 
treatment of the spoil and the captive king as actual his- 
torical facts. This account, in any case, attests the fact 
that Saul lost the powerful support of Samuel, who ab- 
sented himself from the court of Saul for the rest of his 
days. 

In I Sam. 16:1-13, Samuel is represented as going to 
the home of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, and there anointing 
David, one of Jesse’s sons, as king of Israel in place of 
Saul. Scholars in general rightly regard this section as of 
later origin.? It grew out of the later feeling with refer- 
ence to David. David must be Yahweh’s anointed, and 
Samuel of all men must anoint him. The only other con- 
tact of Samuel with David is related in I Sam. 19: 18-24, 
but this, too, is a product of the later prophetic tradition. 
Samuel’s farewell speech* upon the anointing of Saul is 
also to be assigned to a later homilizing spirit. The atti- 
tude of hostility toward the monarchy in itself is here 


ti Sam. 15:22, 23. 

2See Budde, H. P. Smith, Kennedy, Kittel, Dhorme, Cornill, and 
Nowack, loc. cit. 

3 See Commentaries, ad loc. 41 Samuel, chap. 12. 


PROPHETIC LEADERS 23 


again attributed to Samuel without due warrant. But the 
challenge that Samuel is made to throw out to his people, 
to the effect that he defies anyone to accuse him of what we 
today call “‘grafting,”’ is doubtless grounded upon a sound 
tradition. Samuel was too true a patriot to have sought 
to enrich himself at the expense of his fellow-citizens. 

The great merit of Samuel was that he saw the need 
of his times, found the man capable of meeting that need, 
and inspired in him the courage and faith necessary for 
the successful accomplishment of his task. The impor- 
tance of his contribution to the history of Israel is shown 
by the large amount of tradition that gathered about his 
name. It is impossible with any appreciable degree of 
accuracy to sift the legendary from the historically valid 
in the mass of later tradition; but it is clear that Samuel 
did so great a work in his own day that the memory of it 
grew with succeeding generations. The two character- 
istics that may safely be predicated of him are his vital 
faith in his people’s God and his keen political insight. 
These two qualities combined to make him a leader and a 
prophet. 

The prophet Gad was a contemporary and an adviser 
of David, both before and after he became king. His name 
appears only twice in the Books of Samuel. The first ref- 
erence to him represents him as urging David to stay no 
longer in Mizpah in the land of Moab,’ whither he had 
fled to escape the wrath of Saul, but to return to the land 
of Judah.? This shows that Gad had cast in his lot with 
David and against Saul; and that he was therefore a faith- 


t Reading with the Syriac text ‘““Mizpah” instead of ‘“‘the hold” as in 
Hebrew; see ibid., in loc. 


Sam. 22: 5. 


24 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


ful supporter not driven away by the hard lot of David 
during the last years of King Saul. The second appear- 
ance of Gad is after David had taken the census of all 
Israel. Now he comes forward as a spokesman of Yah- 
weh’s wrath against the king.t The narrative in which 
Gad figures is quite naive in its thought of Yahweh. 
Yahweh is said to have been angered against Israel (though 
no occasion is cited for his wrath), so he stirred up David 
to take a census of his people. This David arranged to 
carry out, though the wise Joab and his subordinate 
officers counseled him against what was evidently thought 
of as an impious procedure. No sooner was the census com- 
plete than David’s conscience smote him for his wicked- 
ness. Just at this juncture the prophet Gad, David’s seer, 
felt himself inspired to speak to David in the name of 
Yahweh, offering him a choice of seven years of famine, 
or three months of defeat and pursuit at the hands of his 
enemies, or three days of pestilence. David selects the 
pestilence, which forthwith falls upon the people, carry- 
ing off.seventy thousand men. David saw the angel of 
Yahweh that had charge of the work of destruction and 
besought him for mercy upon Israel. Thereupon Gad again 
appeared in David’s presence and instructed him to build 
an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the 
Jebusite, where he had seen the angel. Upon David’s do- 
ing so and offering upon his altar burnt-offerings and 
peace-offerings, ‘“Yahweh was entreated for the land and 
the plague was stayed from upon Israel.” 

This narrative is placed at a late date by most inter- 
preters.? But there are elements in it that prevent us from 

TTI Sam. 24: 11-14. 

2 So, e.g., H. P. Smith, Kennedy, Budde, and Nowack, loc. cit. 


PROPHETIC LEADERS 25 


putting it too late. The conception of Yahweh here is 
quite unmoralized. He inspires David to undertake an 
enterprise,’ and then punishes him through his people for 
undertaking it. But the conception of prophecy is rela- 
tively early. Gad is not afraid of the king; he dares to 
appear in opposition to his course of action and to serve 
as the mouthpiece of Yahweh’s wrath. But he utters no 
protest against the punishment of the people for the 
offense of their king, and he bids the king seek forgiveness 
through ritualistic measures. In both of these respects 
Gad is far behind the standpoint of the great prophets of 
the eighth century B.c. His criticism of the king, however, 
like that of Samuel, prepared the way for the liberty ac- 
corded his greater successors. 

The last prophet of the Davidic age was Nathan. Un- 
fortunately, little of the material concerning him can suc- 
cessfully claim an early origin. The story in II Sam. 7:1- 
17 of Nathan’s counsel to David, given as the word of 
Yahweh, that he should not proceed to the erection of a 
temple to Yahweh, but should leave that task for his 
son, is quite generally assigned to the seventh century 
B.C. or even later. This means that it has practically no 
historical validity for the times and events of which it 
purports to tell. A similar judgment is generally passed 
upon the parable of the ewe-lamb which Nathan is said 
to have related to David after his sin with Bathsheba and 
his murder of Uriah. All that is left of the narrative re- 
garding Nathan that may be safely ranked as early is the 


* Cf. the changed point of view in I Chron. 21:1. 
2So, e.g., Kennedy, H. P. Smith, Budde, Kittel, Nowack, and 
Cornill. 


3 II Sam. 12:1-14. So, e.g., H. P. Smith, Budde, and Nowack; but 
Kennedy argues for an earlier date. 


26 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


statement in II Sam. 12:25 that he was responsible for 
giving Solomon the name Jedidiah, meaning “beloved of 
Yahweh’’; and the account in I Kings, chapter 1, of the 
proceedings connected with the accession of Solomon. 

The narrative of Solomon’s acquisition of the throne 
of Israel is vivid and natural, bearing the marks of its 
writer’s close familiarity with the actual course of events. 
When David was near his end, Adonijah, his eldest son, 
took steps to assure himself of the possession of his father’s 
throne by getting himself anointed and acclaimed king by 
a powerful group even while David was yet alive. But he 
reckoned without his host. Nathan, the prophet, learned 
of what was going on and hastened to Bathsheba, the 
mother of Solomon, and urged her to seek an interview 
with David and to remind him of his pledge to her that 
Solomon should succeed him upon the throne. Bathsheba 
carried out her instructions and told her story to David as 
directed. She was scarcely through when Nathan was an- 
nounced. He took up the story of what Adonijah had 
done, reminded theking of hispromise toSolomon’smother, 
and gently challenged the king to make good. The spirit 
of the dying king responded to this appeal with something 
of its old fire, and orders were given for the anointing of 
Solomon by Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet. 
The result was that the movement of Adonijah collapsed 
and Solomon was firmly established on the throne. This 
story shows that Nathan had long had influence with 
David and that he had made common cause with Bath- 
sheba and Solomon to the end that Solomon should reign 
in his father’s stead. 

The story speaks eloquently of the place that Nathan 
held in David’s court. He had evidently been in the close 


PROPHETIC LEADERS 27 


confidence of the king for years. He was familiar with all 
the intrigues that were going on as the old king’s strength 
failed. He himself knew the tricks of the politician’s trade, 
and he did not hesitate to bring to bear upon David’s 
mind and heart all the influence at his control. Solomon 
was quite evidently not the choice of all the people; 
Adonijah had a strong following; but the prestige of 
David’s will and the influence of the aged prophet and the 
priest of the royal shrine were too much for Adonijah to 
overcome. Whether there were any strong or adequate 
moral or religious motives operative in Nathan’s mind in 
these maneuvers we have no means of knowing. But the 
presumption is that Nathan was dominated by genuinely 
prophetic motives, which were not only political or pa- 
triotic, but also profoundly religious. 


CHAPTER III 
PROPHECY AND THE SYRIAN WARS 


The newly born kingdom of Saul grew to manhood 
under King David, expanded to its full development un- 
derSolomon, and suffered disintegration under Rehoboam. 
The reign of Solomon swept Israel out into the stream of 
world-politics. Solomon’s many foreign brides were the 
pledges of good faith in as many treaties. Solomon also 
encouraged foreign commerce, starting a sea trade on the 
Red Sea from a port in Edom to the land of Ophir,’ in 
ships manned by Phoenician sailors, and building another 
“navy of Tarshish’’? which made the round trip in a 
period of three years. Not only did he trade by sea, but 
he also seems to have served as a royal horse-merchant, 
serving as trader in horses between Egypt and the north- 
ern kingdoms. He was also a great builder, being credited 
with the erection of the Temple and of the even greater 
palace,’ and in the rebuilding and fortification of Gezer, 
Bethhoron the Lower, Hazor, Megiddo, and the wall of 
Jerusalem.‘ All this activity and expenditure made neces- 
sary a heavy tax upon all the people and a large amount 
of forced labor.S In all this Solomon was following the 


*I Kings 9:26; 10:11. 37 Kings 6:38; 7:1. 

2J Kings 10: 22. 4JT Kings 9:15 ff. 

SI Kings 5:13-18; 9:15-23; 11:26 ff. The Lucianic text of the 
Septuagint adds materials here that are not in the Hebrew text. The 
flight of Jeroboam in the latter is placed immediately after his interview 
with Ahijah, the implication being that Solomon had heard of this meeting 
and had sought to arrest Jeroboam. Nothing is said of any overt move- 


28 


PROPHECY AND THE SYRIAN WARS 29 


example of the great kings of the Orient and especially the 
pharaohs of Egypt. 

Taxation is never popular, and forced labor is always 
resented. It is only what might be expected, therefore, 
when we find that rebellion broke out in Solomon’s own 
day. The leader of the movement was Jeroboam, one of 
Solomon’s overseers of his levy or corvée. The rebellion 
was unsuccessful and Jeroboam had to flee to Egypt until 
the death of Solomon.’ 

Either before his flight to Egypt, or soon after his 
return, Jeroboam encountered the prophet Ahijah, of 
Shiloh. Ahijah had put on a new cloak for the occasion. 
This he stripped off and rent into fragments, handing ten 
of them to Jeroboam, saying: ‘“Take thee ten pieces: for 
thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I will rend the 
kingdom out of the hand of Jeroboam, and will give ten 
tribes to thee.’ ’” There is no adequate reason for doubt- 
ing the participation of the prophets in the revolt of Jer- 
oboam. They were always vitally interested in the wel- 
fare of their people and the conduct of their kings. It is 
almostinconceivable that agreatmovement like thisshould 


ment toward the revolt at this time. The Lucianic account comes di- 
rectly after 12:24 and makes Jeroboam to have organized a rebellion, at 
the head of a force of three hundred chariots. When Solomon sought to 
kill him he took refuge in Egypt, whence he returned after the death of 
Solomon to organize revolt against Rehoboam. In the midst of these 
activities he is met by a prophet, named Shemaiah, who prophesies the 
disruption and promises Jeroboam the kingship of the ten tribes. For a 
critical attack upon the value of the Lucianic text, see Ed. Meyer, Die 
Israeliten und ihrer Nachbarstimme (1906), pp. 363-70; and B. Stade and 
F. Schwally, The Books of Kings (“Sacred Books of the Old Testament,” 
1904), p. 130. Fora critical defense, see A. T. Olmstead, American Journal 
of Semitic Languages, XXX (1913), 15 ff. 


* See previous footnote. 27 Kings 11: 29-32. 


30 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


have taken place in Israel and the prophets have kept 
silence throughout its progress. This was precisely the 
sort of thing most likely to arouse them to frenzy. As 
Samuel was behind Saul and David, and as Nathan sup- 
ported Solomon, so in all probability prophecy in the per- 
son of Ahijah cast in its lot with Jeroboam. It is hardly 
likely that in that day an aspirant for the throne would 
have proceeded far without the support of some recog- 
nized representative of Yahweh. The prophets would al- 
most inevitably be in opposition to the continuation of 
Solomon’s general policy. They were enthusiastic sup- 
porters of the ideals of the nomadic life, and looked with 
hostility upon the increasing luxury and effeminacy of the 
civilized life in Canaan. They would certainly be out- 
raged by the presence of the shrines for foreign gods in 
Jerusalem which Solomon had provided for his imported 
wives. It is not at all likely that Ahijah’s support of 
Jeroboam was an invention of later prophetic writers, 
when we recall that these later prophets denounced the 
disruption as directly contrary to the will of Yahweh." 
We therefore are fairly safe in accepting this record of 
Ahijah’s participation in the revolt as essentially correct.’ 
Ahijah appears in action again only in I Kings 14:1 ff. 
where he predicts the death of Jeroboam’s boy. This may 
possibly be symptomatic of a later breach between Jer- 
oboam and Ahijah, but here conjecture only is possible. 

t See Hos. 8:4; 13:11; I Kings, chap. 13, and 14:1-18. 

2 But see per contra, H. P. Smith, Old Testament History (1903), pp. 
177 ff., where no allusion is made to Ahijah; similar silence is observed by 
B. Stade, Geschichte (1887), pp. 344 ff. 

3 The narratives concerning Ahijah have been greatly expanded by 


later Deuteronomic editors. The oldest materials are confined to I Kings 
11: 26-320, and 14:1-6, 17 f. 


PROPHECY AND THE SYRIAN WARS 31 


The next prophetic name appears in the reign of Baasha 
and is that of Jehu, son of Hanani.’ The narrative regard- 
ing him is late; and all that can safely be inferred from 
the story is the name of the prophet and perhaps the fact 
that he was a hostile critic of King Baasha. The outstand- 
ing fact in Baasha’s reign is that his attacks upon Judah 
led Asa, king of Judah, to hire the aid of Benhadad, king 
of Syria; and so Syria began the series of attacks upon 
Israel which opened the long-drawn-out struggle between 
Syria and Israel. 

Our next known prophets are found in the reign of 
Ahab, in the first half of the ninth century B.c. Ahab’s 
father, Omri, had begun to make a large place for Israel 
among the small kings of Western Asia. It is significant 
that the Assyrian inscriptions spoke of Israel as “‘the land 
of Omri’ long after Omri’s death.” Omri left a strong 
kingdom to his son, and Ahab proceeded to make it 
stronger and richer. He made an alliance with Phoenicia 
by marrying Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of 
Sidon; and Judah also was in alliance with him either 
voluntarily or as a vassal.3 His relations with Syria seem 
to have varied greatly. At times peace prevailed between 
the two peoples, at other times they were fighting fiercely 
against each other, and at still other times they are found 
fighting as allies against a common foe. 

It is fairly safe to say that the outstanding interest of 
Ahab was in the foreign relations of his kingdom. His 
alliances with Syria, Phoenicia, and Judah and his fre- 
quent wars make that clear. The great antagonist during 

a iekings 16:1-7, 


2 Adad-nirari III (811-782 B.c.) and Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 
B.C.) both speak of Israel by that name. 


3J Kings 22:2 ff. 


32 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


most of his reign was Syria. He inherited war with Syria 
from his father, and the alliances with Phoenicia and 
Judah were probably aimed directly at her. The Old 
Testament record of the Syrian wars is almost certainly 
incomplete. The insolent message of Benhadad in I Kings 
20:3 f. presupposes the subservience of Israel, which cer- 
tainly could not have been counted upon nor acknowl- 
edged unless previous events had put Israel in the power 
of Syria. Two battles are recorded in I Kings, chapter 20, 
between Ahab and Benhadad, both of which resulted in 
Benhadad’s defeat. After the second defeat a treaty of 
peace was made between them, by the terms of which 
Benhadad restored to Ahab certain cities which Omri had 
been compelled to hand over to Syria, and also gave Israel 
the right to certain trading privileges in Damascus.’ These 
battles may perhaps be put fairly early in the reign of 
Ahab, though we have only the name of the Syrian king 
to guide us as to the date.’ 

However, in 854 B.c. a new and greater enemy ap- 
peared in Western Asia, viz., Shalmaneser III, king of 
Assyria. The Old Testament record is silent about him 
and his doings. But he must have filled the minds of the 
kings of the Mediterranean coast-lands of Western Asia 
to the exclusion of all lesser interests. Our knowledge of 
him is obtained from his own inscriptions. In his great 
Monolith Inscription, he records a battle against twelve 
kings at Karkar, and among the twelve he lists Ahab, of 
Israel. The narrative runs as follows: 

I departed from Argana and advanced to Karkar. Karkar, his 
royal city, I destroyed, devastated, and burned with fire. Twelve 

tI Kings 20:34. 


2 See D. D. Luckenbill, “Benhadad and Hadadezer,” American Jour- 
nal of Semitic Languages, XXVII (1910), 267-84. 


PROPHECY AND THE SYRIAN WARS 33 


hundred chariots, twelve hundred riding-horses, and twenty thou- 
sand soldiers of Hadad-Ezer of Damascus; seven hundred chariots, 
seven hundred riding-horses, and ten thousand soldiers of Irhuleni 
of Hamath; two thousand chariots and ten thousand soldiers of 
Ahab of Israel; five hundred soldiers of the Quaeans, one thousand 
soldiers of the Musrians, ten chariots and ten thousand soldiers of 
the Irqanateans; two hundred soldiers of Matinu-bale of Arvad; 
two hundred soldiers of the Usanatians; thirty chariots and ten 
thousand soldiers of Aduni-balu of the Shianians; one thousand 
camels of Gindubu the Arabian . . . . ten thousand soldiers of Basa, 
son of Ruhubi, the Ammonite: these twelve kings came to his aid. 
To make war and battle they came against me. With the splendid 
forces which Ashur, the lord, had given; with the powerful weapons 
which Nergal who goes before me had presented, I fought with 
them. From Karkar to Gilzan I accomplished their overthrow. 
Fourteen thousand soldiers, their fighting men I brought low with 
my weapons.’ 


The victory of which Shalmaneser lays claim was evi- 
dently a very dubious one; for he returned to Assyria at 
once and did not follow up his success as a normal victor 
would have done. Not only so, but he found it necessary 
to confront this same coalition of kings again in 850, 8409, 
and 845 B.c. The peoples of the Western coast-lands were 
fighting for their very existence and fighting what was 
inevitably a losing battle in the outcome. Ahab’s name 
does not appear among the combatants after 854 B.c. 
His death probably occurred before the campaign of 
850 B.C. 

In addition to these great struggles, Ahab fought also 
against Mesha, king of Moab. Omri had made Moab sub- 
ject to Israel; but in the middle of Ahab’s reign, Mesha led 
a successful revolt, and Moab broke away from Israel. 

t The entire inscription will be found in R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform 


Parallels to the Old Testament (1913); R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Baby- 
lonian Literature (1901). 


34 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


This conflict is recorded on Mesha’s Inscription, com- 
monly known as the Moabite Stone.? This revolt is either 
a different one from that recorded in IT Kings 3: 4ff.,orelse 
the latter passage has dated it incorrectly, which is prob- 
ably the case. The last conflict in which Ahab fought was 
the attack upon Ramoth Gilead in which he lost his life.’ 
Here he was fighting against Hadadezer, of Syria, with 
whom in 854 B.c. he had been allied against Assyria. 

Looking back upon the record of the score of years, 
during which Ahab led Israel, it is obvious that he was an 
active, courageous, forceful, and statesman-like king. Our 
oldest narratives reflect a clear recognition of those quali- 
ties. He fought hard to gain his independence from Syria, 
and he cultivated the friendship of his neighbors from the 
point of view of strengthening Israel for this task. But 
when the greater danger of an Assyrian conquest loomed 
up, he put aside his own plans for a while and threw him- 
self heartily and effectively into the effort to drive back 
Shalmaneser. It is clear from the record that next to 
Hadadezer himself, Ahab was the most powerful of the 
allied kings. This joint undertaking of the allies was by all 
odds the most important interest in each of the lands in- 
volved. It was doubtless from a regard for the interests 
of this movement that Ahab dealt so generously with 
Benhadad after defeating him at the battle of Aphek. 
Ahab was engaged in a series of great struggles that must 
have occupied all his thought and energy and have strained 
the resources of his kingdom to the utmost. The very 
existence of the kingdom was at stake. 

*T Kings, chap. 22. 

2See S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel 


(2d ed., 1913), pp. Ixxxiv—xciv, and W. H. Bennett, The Moabite Stone 
(1911); George A. Barton, Archaeology and the Bible (1916), pp. 368 ff. 


PROPHECY AND THE SYRIAN WARS 35 


The prophets of the period were, of course, deeply 
interested in the course of events. Patriotism and religion 
were always closely allied. It is natural, therefore, that 
prophets are reported to have given the king the benefit 
of their counsel in connection with his battles against 
Benhadad. But the broad outlook of Ahab was not 
shared by all the prophets, and one of them did not hesi- 
tate to denounce him after the battle of Aphek for having 
spared Benhadad when he had had him in his power.’ 
Again, when Ahab was organizing his final campaign 
against Ramoth Gilead, there was a difference of opinion 
among the prophets. Four hundred of them en masse 
urged Ahab on to the fray, assuring him that Yahweh 
would lead him on to victory. But Micaiah ben Imlah 
was of the contrary opinion. It seems that this prophet 
had established a reputation for hostility to the royal 
policy prior to this occasion;* and, as Ahab had expected, 
he threw cold water upon the enterprise and foretold the 
death of Ahab himself. But the most interesting thing is 
Micaiah’s attitude toward the other four hundred proph- 
ets. He does not shrink from saying to the king that these 
prophetic advisers of his have been inspired by Yahweh 
to tell him a lie. Inspired liars! What a strange colloca- 
tion of terms! Incidentally, this representation shows 
what a low moral standard prevailed in Israel when this 
kind of procedure could be predicated of Yahweh. But, 
on the other hand, Micaiah shows some power of discern- 
ment here in that he recognizes that these prophets are 
quite honest and sincere in their counsel. They are proph- 

tT Kings 20:22, 28. 4T Kings 22:8. 

2T Kings 20:35-43. 5I Kings 22:17, 18, 28. 

3J Kings 22:5, 6. 6J Kings 22:19-23. 


36 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


esying out of their own inmost convictions, believing that 
it is the will of Yahweh to give victory to his people. If 
this diagnosis of their opinion was correct, then, strictly 
speaking, they could not rightly be accused as false proph- 
ets; they were not deliberately misleading Ahab; they 
were giving him the best judgment of which they were 
capable; indeed, they were speaking to him the word of 
God! If Micaiah was correct, the deceiver here was Yah- 
weh himself, not the prophetic group. Trying to see 
things as they were, we may perhaps say that it was a case 
of two different types of patriots. The four hundred 
prophets were small-minded, narrowly patriotic people 
who saw nothing but the fact that Ramoth Gilead, an 
Israelitish town, was in the hands of the Syrians; and 
they thought that this was a good opportunity to recover 
what belonged to them. Micaiah, however, perhaps real- 
ized that this war of aggression on the part of Israel was 
a foolish thing, coming at a time when it was necessary 
that preparations should be going on for another joint 
defense against the rapacious Assyrians. It certainly was 
no time for the Syrian states to be engaging in internecine 
strife and expending the human and material resources 
that were to be so much needed against the Assyrian in 
the immediate future. 

The outstanding prophets of Ahab’s reign and the 
immediately following period, according to the records in 
the Books of Kings, were Elijah and Elisha. These two 
men receive an extraordinary amount of attention, and 
are credited with extraordinary deeds. But when the 
narratives regarding them are seen in the cold light of 
criticism, grave doubt as to their historicity arises. It 
appears at once that Elijah and Elisha are both credited 


PROPHECY AND THE SYRIAN WARS 37 


with deeds that are strangely alike. Both bring to life 
again a dead child who was the only son of his mother.* 
Both fill the failing oil cruse of a widow.” Both at the 
time of their death are described as “‘the chariots of Israel 
and the horsemen thereof.’’* Both are given credit for 
the anointing of Jehu and Hazael of Syria.4 And both 
alike are made responsible for the extermination of Baal- 
ism—Elijah through the slaughter on Mount Carmel and 
Elisha through the bloody work of Jehu. 

Not only so, but the narratives are full of legendary 
and folklore elements, so that they make the impression 
of sagas rather than of historical narratives. Elisha makes 
iron to swim.’ Ahab sends an embassy to “all the na- 
tions,” and puts them under oath that Elijah is not in 
hiding in their dominions. No king in the ancient world 
was in a position to do such a thing, let alone the king of 
such a small people as Israel. Elijah is fed by ravens at 
the brook Cherith,® just as Semiramis—according to a 
legend of Askelon—was exposed as a child in the desert 
and fed by doves with curdled milk, and as Romulus and 
Remus of ancient Rome were fed by wolves. Elijah trav- 
eled for forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb with- 
out food, and saw and heard wonders upon his arrival.? 
Incidentally, we wonder why he was so long upon the 
journey—Horeb was but eleven days’ journey from Ka- 
desh.* Elisha calls down a curse upon the heads of little 
children who make fun of his bald head, and straightway 
she-bears come out of the woods and tear and rend forty 


tT Kings 17:17 ff.; II Kings 4:17 ff. STI Kings 6:1-7. 
27 Kings 17:14-16; II-Kings 4:1 ff. 6J Kings 17:1-6. 
31I Kings 2:12; 13:14. 7I Kings 19:1-18. 


4T Kings 19:15 f.; II Kings 8:13;9-1:10. % Deut. 1:2. 


38 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


of them.’ Elijah calls down fire from the heavens upon 
the heads of two successive companies of soldiers sent to 
seize him and they are consumed.” Elijah is able to get an 
abundance of water upon the top of Mount Carmel in a 
time of severe and long-continued drought. Elijah finds 
a glorious ending by being translated to the celestial 
regions in a chariot of fire.4 And Elisha’s dead body has 
such miraculous potency that, when another dead man 
was put into Elisha’s tomb, the newcomer at once sprang 
to his feet. There is a far greater proportion of this kind 
of material in the Elijah-Elisha stories than is found any- 
where else in the prophetic writings of the Old Testament. 

Narratives of this kind may quite easily have sprung 
into being very soon after the times of Elijah and Elisha. 
No great lapse of time is needed for the origin of such 
tales. It was a credulous and superstitious age. Stories of 
the marvelous would find ready credence. We need only 
observe similar phenomena in recent times to realize this. 
The doings and sayings of Washington and Lincoln have 
been enlarged upon and glorified in most unhistorical 
fashion.® In our own day, we have only to think of the 
stories current in England in the autumn of 1914 to the 
effect that Russian troops had been sent on their way 
through England to take their place beside the Allies upon 
the Western front, though not a single Russian regiment 
ever set foot upon English soil. A still closer parallel to our 

tII Kings 2: 23-25. 3I Kings 18:19 ff., 33-35. 

2 II Kings 1:9 ff. 41I Kings 2:1-12. 5 JI Kings 13:21. 

6 See S. G. Fisher, ‘The Legendary and Myth-making Processes in 
Histories of the American Revolution,” Proceedings of the American 
Philosophical Society, LI (1912), 53-76; C. A. Manning, “Yermak Timo- 


feyevitch in Russian Folk Oya Journal of the American Oriental 
Society, XLII, 206-15. 


PROPHECY AND THE SYRIAN WARS 39 


stories is the tale of the angelic bowmen who intervened 
between the retreating English and the attacking Ger- 
mans at Mons in 1914. Though that tale has been traced 
to its creator, who has declared it to be a work of his 
literary imagination,’ it was believed by multitudes and 
still finds its defenders. But the fact that the Elijah and 
Elisha narratives may have arisen at a relatively early date 
does not give them the right to be accepted at their face 
value. Not their age but their character is against them. 
They are largely the product of the luxuriant and un- 
critical imagination of their times. 

The stories make Ahab out to have been a persecutor 
of the prophets of Yahweh and his worshipers. But Ahab’s 
children carried names compounded with the name Yah- 
weh, viz., Joram, Ahaziah, Joash, and Athaliah. These 
were Jezebel’s children, too! Children named afier Yah- 
weh are the most convincing evidence that Ahab honored 
Yahweh as his god. Not only so, but there were flourish- 
ing prophetical groups in Bethel and Jericho in Ahab’s 
day and after his death.2 When Ahab started out upon 
his final campaign he was able to summon four hundred 
prophets of Yahweh to give him counsel.’ Micaiah ben 
Imlah was known to be hostile to Ahab; yet Ahab did 
not kill him, but called him into consultation. On the other 
hand, the worshipers of Baal could all be assembled in a 
single temple in Samaria shortly after Ahab’s death.4 
Ahab’s hostility toward Yahweh, therefore, would seem 
to have been a non-existent thing, and his zeal for the 
Baalim to have been greatly magnified. 

t Arthur Machen, The Bowmen and Otker Legends of the War. (Lon- 
don: 1915S). 

#1 Kings 2:3; 5,.7, 15. 3] Kings 22:6. 4II Kings 10:18 ff. 


40 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Yet if these narratives come from a period fairly close 
to the times that they purport to describe, there must be 
some elements of truth and reality in what they report. 
Ithobaal, father of Jezebel, really was priest-king of Sidon 
in the ninth century B.c. There actually was a famine 
lasting for a year or more in Phoenicia in the reign of 
Ithobaal, according to Menander of Ephesus.’ The gath- 
ering of the prophets and priests of Baal on Mount 
Carmel in a time of drought for the purpose of making 
intercession to the Baal for relief from the drought and 
famine is quite in keeping with ancient practice. The 
hatred of Elijah against the Baalim rings true to pro- 
phetic form, and probably rests upon a basis of fact. The 
nomadic and somewhat ecstatic character of Elijah is 
likewise to be credited to a sound tradition. 

Elijah’s opposition to Ahab as presented in the tradi- 
tions centered around two things, viz., Ahab’s attitude 
toward the Baalim and his seizure of Naboth’s vineyard. 
It was a case of the practical statesman confronted by an . 
out-and-out idealist and religious enthusiast. Ahab, whose 
policy of alliance with his neighbors was doubtless well 
thought out and had large ends in view, could not respond 
to the prophet’s desires and initiate a persecution looking 
toward the extermination of Baalim from Israel, without 
breaking off his alliance with Phoenicia, at least, and 
perhaps also with other Canaanitish and Syrian powers. 
But these alliances were vital to the success of the larger 
aims that Ahab had in mind, and were not to be lightly 
broken upon the word of a mere long-haired ‘‘prophet” 
from the desert. It may be that Ahab’s support of Baal- 
ism went no farther than an amiable tolerance and a pro- 


t See Josephus Conira A pion i. 18, and Archaeology viii. 13. 2. 


PROPHECY AND THE SYRIAN WARS 41 


vision for the religious needs of his Phoenician wife. But 
this was too much for the enthusiast and idealist who 
would have had Ahab forego everything in the world but 
his undiluted loyalty to his own people and to Yahweh 
the God of Israel. Prophecy was a conservative force in 
Israel, standing for loyalty to the ideals of the nomadic 
life of days gone by, hostile to the advance of civilization 
and culture, and intolerant of the worship in Israel of any 
other god but Yahweh.’ Elijah was a typical embodiment 
of this conservatism. 

The Naboth episode is made responsible by tradition 
for the fall of Ahab’s dynasty.? This crime may with rea- 
sonable safety be charged up against Ahab and Jezebel. 
It was the type of action all too common with oriental 
despots. Ahab was unduly influenced by his Phoenician 
wife so that he permitted her the use of power which she 
did not fail to use to the utmost. If the course of events 
is faithfully depicted in the narrative, it is not at all un- 
likely that Ahab knew nothing of the scheme of Jezebel 
until it was accomplished and he was in enjoyment of the 
ill-gotten spoil. In any case there was here a conflict be- 
tween two opposing types of government, that of the 
typical autocrat over against that of the sturdy democrat. 
Naboth was but standing up for the maintenance of his 
long-recognized family rights, while Ahab through Jezebel 
cast rights to the winds and so acted as to obtain his wish 
without scruple. There is no reason to suppose that the 
principle at stake was not an old one; and that Elijah 
stood upon this occasion for the recognition by the kings 


tSee J. M. Powis Smith, “The Conservatism of Early Prophecy,” 
American Journal of Theology, XXIII, 290-99. 


27 Kings 21:19; II Kings 9:36f. 


42 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


of the fundamental rights of his subjects is altogether 
probable. This was in close harmony with the spirit and 
attitude of prophecy from the start. 

Elijah’s personality and work clearly left a deep im- 
pression upon the consciousness of his generation. The 
degree to which his life has been idealized and glorified in 
the traditions is of itself a testimony to the importance of 
his contribution to his times. We may not be able to fol- 
low the tradition in its enthusiastic glorification of Elijah 
and accredit to him all the wonders of these legends; but 
we must recognize that he was an outstanding figure in his 
day, that he did not shrink from antagonizing the mighty 
king, Ahab, and that while he may not have been alert 
to the dangers of the international situation, he was keen- 
ly alive to the necessity of justice to the common man 
and of unswerving loyalty to Yahweh as the God of the 
nomadic fathers, who required of their sons the same 
simplicity of life and sincerity of worship that had char- 
acterized the pioneers. 

In so far as he is not a pale reflection of Elijah, Elisha 
appears as a strong supporter of Israel in its war with 
Syria. His contribution to the struggle by way of advice 
and stimulation of faith in Yahweh did much to keep up 
the morale of the king and his people. He differed ap- 
parently from Elijah, not only in his manner of life, but 
also in his attitude toward the movements of his day. 
Elijah was essentially conservative and almost reaction- 
ary in principle; Elisha was sympathetic toward the 
progress of his day and helpful in the solution of practical 
problems. He died a loyal patriot, in his last hours giving 
encouragement and stimulus to the king for the struggle 
against Syria. 


CHAPTER IV 


AMOS AND HOSEA 


The disaster that befell Israel and Ahab at Ramoth 
Gilead was but the beginning of a long period of depres- 
sion. In the days of Jehu, Damascus seems to have had 
its own way with Israel. “In those days Yahweh began 
to cut Israel short; from Jordan eastward, all the land of 
Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manas- 
sites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead 
and Bashan.’ Not only so, but the armies of Assyria were 
frequent visitors in the Westland. In 840, 846, and again 
in 842 B.c. Shalmaneser invaded this region and fought 
with its allied forces. Indeed, in 842 B.c. Jehu was forced 
to pay tribute to Shalmaneser, as we learn from Shal- 
maneser’s Obelisk Inscription, where he pictures He- 
brews kneeling before him and says: “‘I have received the 
tribute of Jehu, son of Omri: silver, gold, golden bowls, 
golden chalices, golden cups, golden buckets, lead, a 
sceptre for the hands of the king and balsam-woods.’”? In 
839 B.C. Shalmaneser again attacked Damascus and de- 
feated Hazael, receiving tribute also from Tyre, Sidon, 
and Byblos. 

The depths to which Israel had sunk in the days of 
Jehoahaz are reflected in this Hebrew statement regarding 
the king of Syria: “‘Neither did he leave of the people to 
Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten 

1 {T Kings 10:32 f. 

2R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (1912), 


P. 304. 
43 


44 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed 
them and had made them like the dust by threshing.’ 
But finally: ‘“Yahweh gave Israel a saviour, so that they 
went out from under the hand of the Syrians.’? This 
“saviour” was none other than the Assyrian king. Adad- 
nirari IIT (812-783 B.c.) of Assyria was an energetic sov- 
ereign. He declares in one of his inscriptions: 

From the shore of the Euphrates out, I subdued the land of 
the Hittites, the whole of Amurru, Tyre, Sidon, the land of Omri, 
Edom and Philistia as far as the great western sea. Taxes and 
tribute I laid upon them. To the land of Damascus I drew nigh. 
I shut up Mari, king of Damascus, in Damascus, his residential city. 
Fear before the splendor of Asshur, his lord, overcame him; he 
seized my feet and became subject to me.3 


That meant the end to all trouble for Israel from Syria; 
and for the next half-century Assyria was quiescent in the 
Westland. It was a period of weakness and internal strife 
in Assyria herself, and consequently, as she was unable 
to push her conquests, the Westland was left undisturbed. 
Joash, of Israel, and Jeroboam II utilized this opportunity 
to recover Israel’s lost territory. The result was that by 
the latter part of Jeroboam’s reign Israel was in a highly 
prosperous and supremely confident condition. The Kings- 
narrative thus describes and explains the good fortune of 
Israel: 


He restored the border of Israel from the entering of Hamath 
unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of Yahweh, God 
of Israel, which he spoke through his servant Jonah, the son of 
Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. For Yahweh 
saw the affliction of Israel that it was very severe; for there was not 


t TI Kings 13:7. 2 TI Kings 13:5. 


3 Nimrud Inscription; see R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian 
Literature (1901), pp. 51 f. 


AMOS AND HOSEA 45 


any restrained nor any released, nor any help for Israel. But Yah- 
weh had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from 
under the heavens; so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the 
son of Joash.! 

Jeroboam is here evidently thought of as the “saviour” 
mentioned in II Kings 13:5; but Jeroboam could have 
done little had it not been for Adad-nirari, who cleared 
Syria out of his way. 


Into the midst of this blazing sunshine of prosperity 


came Amos, of Tekoa, thundering forth denunciation and 
disaster.2 Amos was a shepherd’ who watched his flocks 
as they grazed on the sunny slopes of the hills, ro miles _ 
or so to the south of Jerusalem. Quite likely he spent 
many days in the sight of the Dead Sea with all its waste 
and desolation, so suggestive and burdened with so terrible — 
a tradition from the distant past. He also describes him- 
self as a dresser of sycamore trees.4 The sycamore does 
not grow at an elevation of more than 1,000 feet; and 
since Tekoa is almost 3,000 feet above sea-level, Amos 
must have owned or worked in some fields located at a 
considerable distance from Tekoa. But his occupations 
afforded him much time and food for thought. As an 
owner of sheep, he had occasion from time to time to 
visit the great markets of Judah and Israel in order to sell 
the products of his flock. From such excursions into the 
great commercial centers, he returned to the solitudes of 
his mountain home, his mind filled with new and strange 

tTI Kings 14: 25-27. 

2'The appearance of Amos as a prophet may be placed about 750 


B.c. For a full discussion of the date, see W. R. Harper, Amos and Hosea 
(“International Critical Commentary,” 1905), pp. cii-civ. 


3 Amos 1:1; 7:14f. 
4 Amos 7:14. 


46 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


sights and his heart burdened with a heavy load of grief 
over what he saw. 

It is significant that Amos refused to allow himself 
to be called a “‘ prophet.” He clearly realized that the 
“prophets” of his day were in bad repute, and that he 
must separate himself sharply from them if he would not 
be misunderstood. The nature of the misunderstanding is 
quite clear from the slur of Amaziah, the chief priest at 
Bethel, when he urged Amos to return home, saying: 

O seer! Go away; flee to the land of Judah; 

And eat bread there, and there prophesy! 


But at Bethel do not prophesy again; 
For the king’s sanctuary, and the royal palace are here!* 


The implication of this was that Amos was like the rest of 
the prophets of the day who were prophets for revenue 
only. Amaziah told Amos that he was in the wrong place 
to obtain reward for that kind of a message; he should go 
back home and preach it to the people of Judah; they 
would be glad to hear such threats against Israel, and 
would pay him well for his message. Amos indignantly 
repudiated the implied charge and declared himself genu- 
inely called of Yahweh to the task of prophecy. There- 
upon he proceeded to prophesy with a vengeance, saying 
to Amaziah: 

Your wife will play the harlot in the city; 

Your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword; 

Your land will be distributed by measure; 

And you yourself will die upon an unclean soil; 

And Israel will be entirely carried into exile. | 

The facts that brought Amos to this conclusion re- 

garding Israel were the social wrongs that he saw rampant 


t Amos 7:12f. 2 Amos 7:17. 


AMOS AND HOSEA 47 


there. It was a “‘post-war” period, when, even as now, 
the rich seem to have been getting richer and the poor 
poorer. It was the great merit of Amos that he insisted 
upon fundamental morality as the supreme thing in 
human relations with God. There was no lack of ritual- 
istic splendor in Israel; but in the eyes of Amos this was 
little better than an insult to Yahweh so long as justice 
was not operative between man and man. Amos was him- 
self a poor man, or at most a man of moderate means. He 
understood the trials of the poor and he felt their burdens. 
It was out of a deep sympathy with men of his own kind 
that he spoke words of indignation and scorn against the 
rich oppressor. He returns to this subject again and again, 
never wearying of denouncing the conscienceless rich: 


Thus has Yahweh said: 
“For three transgressions of Israel,— 

Yea, for four, I will not turn it aside; 

Because they sell the righteous for silver, 

And the needy for a pair of sandals— 

Those trampling upon the head of the poor— 

And they turn aside the way of the lowly; 

And father and son walk in collusion; 

So that they profane my holy name. 

And they spread out pawned garments beside every 
altar; 

And they drink the wine of the condemned in the 
house of their god.’ 


And again: 


Hear this, you who trample upon the needy, 
And cause the lowly of the land to cease, saying, 
“How long until the new moon pass that we may sell 
grain, 
And the Sabbath that we may display wheat,—- 


t Amos 2:6-8. 


Be ius int 


48 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Diminishing the ephah and enlarging the shekel, 
And perverting treacherous scales— 

That we may buy the poor for silver, 

And the needy for a pair of sandals, 

And that we may sell the refuse grain?’ 


The sensuous wives of the rich oppressors are roughly 
addressed thus: 


Hear this word, O cows of Bashan, who are in the hill of 
Samaria, 
Who oppress the weak, who crush the needy, 
Who say to their lords, “‘Bring, that we may drink”’: 
Yahweh has sworn by his holiness, 
“Behold days are coming upon you 
When they will lift you by the nose with hooks 
And by your hindquarters with fish hooks, 
And you will be dragged forth through the breaches, 
each one straight ahead, 
And you will be thrown upon the dung-heap.”’ 
It is the oracle of Yahweh.? 


Amos not only found fault with the social order in 
Israel, saying that the rich were using all kinds of devious 
methods to get the better of the poor, but he also de- 
nounced the type of worship prevalent in his day. There 
was no lack of rich ceremonial worship in the way of 
sacrifices and offerings and splendid accoutrements. But 
the spirit of true worship was entirely lacking. The diffi- 
culty was not that the worshipers were not wholly sincere 
and devout in the practice of the ritual, such as it was; 
but that, while zealous in the practice of ceremonial, they 
were living lives that lacked the fundamental moral quali- 


t Amos 8: 4-6. 


Amos 4:1-3. For textual changes adopted here, see Nowack, 
Kleine Propheten (2d ed., 1922), ad loc. 


AMOS AND HOSEA 49 


ties without which no worship, however elaborate, could 
be pleasing to Yahweh: 


“Come to Bethel—and transgress! 
To Gilgal—and multiply transgression! 
And bring your sacrifices every morning, 
Every three days—your tithes! 
And burn a thank-offering of leaven, 
And proclaim voluntary offerings—publish them 
abroad! 
For so do you love to do, O children of Israel.” 
It is the oracle of the Lord Yahweh.? 
And: 
For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel: 
“Seek me, that you may live! 
But seek not Bethel, 
And do not enter Gilgal, 
Nor pass over to Beer-sheba! 
For Gilgal will surely be carried into exile. 
And Bethel will become a nonentity. 
Seek Yahweh, that you may live, 
Lest fire flash forth upon the house of Joseph 
And consume, with no one to quench it in Bethel.” 


And further: 


“T hate, I loathe your feasts, 
And I will not accept your sacred conventicles; 
Though you offer me your burnt-offerings 
And your sacrifices, I will not accept them; 
Nor will I look favorably upon the sacrifice of your 
fatlings. 
Put away from me the noise of your songs; 
Nor will I listen to the melody of your harps. 
But let justice roll down like waters, 
And righteousness like a perennial stream. 
Was it sacrifice and offerings that you brought me 
In the wilderness during forty years, O house of Israel?’’s 


t Amos 4:4f. 2 Amos 5:4-6. 3 Amos 5: 21-25. 


50 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


It may hardly be supposed that Amos would have done 
away with sacrifice and ritual entirely if he could; he had 
not arrived at a conception of religion as purely ethical or 
theological and abstract. It was not ritual as such to 
which he objected, but rather the practice of ritual by 
- people who acted as though that practice fulfilled all their 
religious obligations. Amos would not have had them 
stop the ceremonial; but he did insist that ceremonial 
without moral character and social justice was but an 
offense to Yahweh. The religion of Amos claimed the 
whole life and was not satisfied with any partial control. 

One of the most striking aspects of the thought of 
Amos is his denunciation of the neighboring peoples. His 
list of the foreign nations upon whom he announces the 
doom of Yahweh includes Damascus, Philistia, Ammon, 
and Moab.? This interest of prophecy in outside nations 
was not wholly new with Amos. The traditions represent 
Elijah and Elisha as thinking of Yahweh as having some 
control over the internal affairs of Damascus. The J docu- 
ment in Genesis assigns the creation of the world to Yah- 
weh. That did not imply a monotheistic conception, for in 
the ancient Semitic world national gods were commonly 
looked upon by their own peoples as responsible for the 
creation. The westward movements of Assyria in the 
ninth century also did much toward the enlargement of © 
the Hebrew thought of God.? The international policy of 

t The similar oracles against Tyre, Edom, and Judah are probably 
not to be attributed to Amos himself, but to later editors. For the dis- 
cussion of these questions, see W. R. Harper, loc. cit.; but as defending 
their genuineness, see F. C. Eiselen, The Prophetic Books of the Old Testa- 
ment, II (1923), 407 fi. 


2See George A. Smith’s chapter, ‘The Influence of Assyria upon 
Prophecy,” in The Book of the Twelve Prophets, I (1897), 44-58. 


AMOS AND HOSEA 51 


Omri and Ahab, made necessary by the imminence of the 
Assyrian peril, involved at least a sympathetic tolerance 
of the gods of the allies of Israel; and the actual conquest 
of the western states in general and of Israel in particular 
by Shalmaneser must have made necessary to the theo- 
logically minded a new adjustment of their ideas to fit the 
new facts. A loyal worshiper of Yahweh couid not long 
endure the thought that Yahweh was inferior in power to 
the Assyrian gods. The only escape from this conclusion 
was to make Yahweh supreme over Assyria itself and to 
regard the movements of Assyria as a part of the plan of 
Yahweh for the conduct of his world. The Assyrian thus 
became ultimately for Hebrew thinkers the chastening 
rod of Yahweh’s wrath against Israel, his own people. 
This process of enlargement of the scope of Yahweh’s 
activity was already under way when Amos appeared as 
prophet. He used it effectively for his own prophetic pur- 
poses. It is an open question as to the extent to which 
these oracles against Israel’s neighbors were motivated 
by wrongs committed against Israel by these peoples. In 
the case of Moab, at least, apparently, the offense for 
which punishment is threatened was a wrong of Moab 
against Edom. The date of this barbarity is unknown, 
but it may well have been in connection with the invasion 
of Moab by Israel, with Judah and Edom as allies.* If so, 
a crime against an ally of Israel would be only one degree 
less keenly felt than one against Israe! herself. However 
that may be, it is clear that Amos resents in Yahweh’s 
name the brutality of the offenses he charges against these 
peoples. He was here the mouthpiece of broad human- 
itarian principles for the violation of which he threatened 
tII Kings 3:4-27. 


P aa 
4 
‘ 


52 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


the peoples with destruction. It is significant that this 
broadening of the God-idea appeared in close connection 
with ethical considerations, for in the domain of ethics 
there are no national barriers. As a matter of record, it 
should be said in this connection that Israel’s achievement 
in monotheism, as well as its arrival at the thought of 
personal immortality, was by way of the ethical necessities 
of the passing centuries. When monotheism came it was 
an ethical monotheism, and when immortality was reached, 
it was an ethical immortality. 

How did Amos arrive at his conviction that Israel was 
doomed to punishment and exile? Not by way of an inti- 
mate knowledge of or keen insight into the course of in- 
ternational politics. As a matter of fact, Amos did not 
name the agent through whom this punishment was to be 
executed. It is not at all likely that he knew. The king- 
dom of Israel in his day was more prosperous and power- 
ful under Jeroboam II than it had been at any previous 
period. Assyria was suffering a continuous decline of 
power from the time of Adad-nirari’s death in 785 B.c. 
until the accession of Tiglath-Pileser in 745 B.c. Between 
783 and 773 B.c. Shalmaneser fought six campaigns against 
the kingdom of Urartu to the northwest of Assyria. 
Argistis, king of the Kaldi of Urartu, at one time was so 
successful that he pressed south to a point within three 
or four days’ march of Nineveh. The successes of Urartu 
greatly encouraged the western states that were vitally 
interested in the outcome of the contest, if they were not 
even in league with Urartu. So Shalmaneser found it nec- 
essary to march west and attack Damascus in 773 B.C. 
His successor, Ashur-dan III, fought against Hadrach in 
Central Syria, in 772 and 765; and his successor was on 


AMOS AND HOSEA 53 


the defensive against an attack upon Arpad in Northern 
Syria by the Kaldi, of Urartu, in 754 B.c. That was the last 
of Assyria’s foreign wars until the appearance of Tiglath- 
Pileser. Consequently, Assyria was in no condition to be 
regarded by any observer as an imminent peril to her 
neighbors about 750 B.c. Nor was the situation in Egypt 
at that time any more threatening to Western Asia. The 
Twenty-second Dynasty was drawing to a close, and was 
powerless both at home and abroad. Internal schisms 
paralyzed the strength of Egypt, and the pharaohs found 
themselves powerless to engage in campaigns in Asia. 
Amos clearly expected the calamity to come from the 
north;? but whether he thought of Assyria, Urartu, or the 
wild hordes of the more distant north, we have no means 
of knowing. The only thing of which he seems to have 
been certain was that Yahweh was about to punish Israel 
for its sins. His certainty, therefore, had its sure basis in 
his conviction of the justice of Yahweh. Theagent through 
whom that justice should find expression he did not need 
to know. It was enough that justice would be done by 
Yahweh, the God of justice. 

The message of Amos was in direct opposition to the 
prevailing thought of hisage. His contemporaries were all 
interested in the great eschatological expectation of the 
coming of the Day of Yahweh. This great Day was for 
them the dawn of the New Age in which all the hopes and 
aims of Israel were to be realized. It would be marked 
by the overthrow of all foes and by a wonderful and con- 
tinuous outpouring of the favor of Yahweh upon Israel. 
This was a type of thought that was well established in 
Israel and had become the orthodox hope of the genera- 

t Amos 5:27; 6:7, 14; 7:17. 


54 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


tions. Where and how it arose or whence it came we do 
not know.’ But there it was, serving as the mainstay of 
Israel’s ambition and patriotism. But to Amos such hopes 
and expectations were impossible. He, too, looked for the 
Day of Yahweh, indeed; but what a different Day! Not 
blessing and joy, but disaster and mourning were to be its 
outstanding characteristics. Israel’s religious guides were 
wholly mistaken! 

Alas, for those who long for the Day of Yahweh! 

Wherefore, then, is your Day of Yahweh? 

It is darkness, and not light. 

It is as though a man were fleeing from a lion, 

And a bear met him; 
And he went into a house and laid his hand upon the wall, 
And a serpent bit him. 

Is not the Day of Yahweh darkness, and not light; 

Yea, deep darkness, with no brightness in it?? 
And even as the pre-millennialists of the present day are 
looking for the end of the world to come at almost any 
moment, so it is probable that Amos did not put his com- 
ing Day of Yahweh far away. He rather seems to have 
been living in the shadow of its speedy approach. He did 
not make the mistake of attempting to fix the date upon 
which the great Day should dawn, but the vision of its 
retributive justice was the dominant thought in his mind. 

Did Amos forswear all hope? Was there nothing in 
store for Israel but a certain fiery form of judgment? It is 
hardly credible that a prophet would have put himself to 
such pains, if he had seen nothing ahead but ruin for the 


t Similar eschatological hopes seem to have been entertained in 
Babylonia and Assyria and in ancient Egypt; see e.g., H. Gressmann, Der 
Ursprung der Israelitisch-juidischen Eschatologie (1905), pp. 142-58; cf. my 
The Prophet and His Problems (1914), pp. 3-35. 


2 Amos 5: 18-20. 


AMOS AND HOSEA 55 


people to whom he preached. Whyshould any man preach, 
if he saw no possibility of pointing out a way of salvation? 
Amos must have had some future for Israel in mind. He 
preached judgment in order to turn Israel away from 
her sins and to lead her into the way of escape. He put 
forth a few suggestions of deliverance, always conditioned 
upon right conduct and a genuinely religious attitude.7 
But there is no confident portrayal of a glorious future.? 
The persistent note is one of tragedy. It will throw some 
light upon this to recall that Amos was not a citizen of the 
northern kingdom, but of Judah. He was engaging in a 
praiseworthy mission when he crossed the border and 
began prophesying to Israel; but he could perhaps con- 
template the downfall of Israel with less emotion than 
would have been possible for an Israelite proper. From 
the point of view of his faith in Yahweh, he could always 
fall back upon his own people and look to them to carry 
on Yahweh’s work in the world and to serve as the recip- 
ients of Yahweh’s blessings. 

About a decade after the appearance of Amos in Israel, 
Hosea came forth from the ranks of Israel itself. He was 
the prophet of the decline and fall of Northern Israel, and 
the only one of the writing prophets to spring from the soil 
of that kingdom. His prophetic career probably ran par- 
allel with the end of Jeroboam’s reign and the chaotic 
conditions that followed in Israel down to the accession 
of Pekah in 736 B.c.3 During this period, the Assyrian 

tAmos 5:4-6, 14f. 


2 The closing passage of the book, 9: 80-15, is quite generally regarded 
as a later addition; see W. R. Harper, of. cit. 

3 Hos. 7: 3-9; 8:4; for a full discussion of the date see W. R. Harper, 
op. cit., pp. cxlif.; F. C. Eiselen, The Prophetic Books of the Old Testa- 
ment, II (1923), 365-68; J. M. Powis Smith, Amos, Hosea, and Micah 
(1914), Pp. 75-77: 


56 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Empire was reasserting itself in Western Asia. In 745 
B.C. Tiglath-Pileser seized the throne of Assyria and in- 
augurated a new era of power. During the first ten years 
of his reign he was engaged in constant warfare against 
the peoples of the north, the south, and the west. But he 
was consistently successful and finally made Assyria 
master of the world, bringing the peoples of Babylonia, 
Urartu, and the states of Western Asia to acknowledge 
and submit to Assyria’s power. In 738 B.c. Menahem, of 
Israel, paid tribute to Assyria. But as in the case of 
Amos, so in that of Hosea, his judgment as to the disaster 
awaiting Israel was not based upon observation of the 
growing power of Assyria. He does, indeed, mention 
Assyria as a punitive agency; but he also mentions Egypt, 
and during this period Egypt was absolutely powerless.? 
The Twenty-second Dynasty came to a futile ending in 
745 B.c., and the Twenty-third Dynasty ushered in “‘the 
total dissolution of the Egyptian State.’ Hosea’s mes- 
sage was based not upon political considerations pri- 
marily, but upon moral and religious convictions. 

The personal life of Hosea, in whatever way it may be 
understood, had much to do with his prophetic activity. 
The facts regarding it are to be found in Hosea, chapters 1 
and 3. The story there told has been treated as allegory . 
and as the actual personal experience of Hosea.4 This 

‘II Kings 15:19 f.; the king “Pul’” of this passage is generally re- 
garded as being identical with Tiglath-Pileser. 

2 Assyria is mentioned in Hos. 5:13; 7:11; 8:9; 9:3; 10:6; 11:5; 12:1; 
Egypt appears in 7:11, 16; 9:3, 6; 12:1. Both countries are looked upon 
as places of exile in 9:3, 6; 10:6. 


3 J. H. Breasted, History of Egypt (1909), pp. 539-45. 
4 For the history of the interpretation of Hosea’s marriage, see W. R. 
Harper, op. cit., pp. cxliii ff. and 208 ff. 


AMOS AND HOSEA 57 


latter view is today generally accepted. But we still differ 
as to the sense in which this personal history is to be 
understood. For a brief period in the nineteenth century, 
it seemed as though the view would carry the day that 
Hosea had fallen in love with a charming young woman 
and married her, only to find out later that she was un- 
true to him and was presenting him with children that 
were not his own. In the midst of this tragic situation, 
Hosea discovered that this was Yahweh’s method of awak- 
ening in him the spirit of prophecy, for he, through this 
experience, was brought to understand that Israel had 
treated Yahweh just as Gomer was treating Hosea. 
Thereupon he put his wife under restraint and in separa- 
tion from himself, in order that she might come to realize 
her great guilt and be taken back upon repentance into 
Hosea’s family circle, even as Israel because of its sins 
must go into exile for punishment preparatory to restora- 
tion to Yahweh’s favor.’ 

Attractive as this view is, there are certain obstacles in 
the way of its complete success in explaining all the data. 
In recent years there has been a marked tendency to 
revert to the older view that Gomer was a well-known 
prostitute whom Hosea married for prophetic reasons.’ 
The main considerations involved in the interpretation of 

* For an eloquent exposition of this view, see George Adam Smith, 
Book of the Twelve Prophets, I (1897), 232 ff.; and also W. R. Harper, 
op. cit., pp. 206-24. 

? For a full statement of this view see my The Prophet and His Prob- 
lems (1914), pp. 109 ff. This position is supported also by C. H. Toy, 
Journal of Biblical Literature, XXXII (1913), 75-79; C. Steuernagel, 
Einleitung in das Alte Testament (1912), pp. 605 f.; George A. Barton, 
Religion of Israel (1917), pp. 99 f.; B. Duhm, Jsrael’s Propheten (1916), 
pp. 98 ff.; D. Buzy, Revue Biblique (1917), pp. 376-423; E. Sellin, Zwélf- 
prophetenbuch (1922). 


58 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Hosea’s marriage are, in brief, as follows. The phrase, ‘‘a 
wife of harlotries,” in Hos. 1:2 can only mean “‘a harlot- 
rous wife,” i.e., one who practices prostitution. It is 
exactly like such phrases as “a man of blood,” 1.e., a man 
who is famed for his bloody deeds. The description of 
Gomer as “‘a daughter of Diblaim’’ is better rendered ‘‘a 
worthless woman,’ ie., literally, “daughter of two cakes 
of figs,’ or worth but a couple of handfuls of figs.? The 
prophets were not averse to sensational proceedings, as 
may be seen from the fact that Isaiah represents himself 
as having walked the streets of Jerusalem in a state of 
nudity, and that on another occasion he challenged Ahaz 
to put his preaching to the test by calling for any type of 
miracle that might occur to him.* The purpose of this 
strange marriage was to attract the attention of Israel and 
to impress Hosea’s message upon his contemporaries. He 
shrank from no self-sacrifice, no matter how abhorrent, 
that seemed to him necessary to the success of his mission. 
By this astounding act, Hosea sought to drive home to the 
consciousness of his people the fact that while they were 
wedded to Yahweh as their God, they were neverthe- 
less disloyal to him in that they were worshiping the 
Baalim, and so giving to these nature-gods of Canaan the 
homage and devotion that rightfully belonged to Yah- 
weh alone. 

The marriage narrative is given in two forms. In 
chapter 3, we are given the experience of Hosea from his 


t Hos. 1:3. 

2See E. Nestle, Zeitschrift fiir die alitestamentliche Wissenschaft, 
XXIII, 346, and XXIV, 234; and W. Baumgarten, zbid., XXXIII 
(r915), 78. 

3 Isa. 20:1, 2. A[sa.:7 221) 


AMOS AND HOSEA 59 


own lips; in chapter 1 the same experience is recorded by 
another narrator. The two narratives are not representa- 
tive of two stages in Hosea’s marital life, as has commonly 
been supposed, but are merely two different accounts of 
one and the same situation.t The course of events in 
Hosea’s home was apparently this: He felt himself driven 
to marry Gomer, whom everybody knew to be a woman 
of the street. Whether or not Hosea’s affections were en- 
gaged is not clear. The term “‘love”’ in Hos. 3:1 is not con- 
vincing, for it is used in this very verse and elsewhere of 
other feelings than pure love. The marriage was for public- 
ity purposes primarily in any case. He bought her at the 
price of a slave (3:2). He straightway subjected her to 
discipline and restraint for a period of some length. When 
Gomer came into Hosea’s home and children were born, 
these children were given names of prophetic significance 
and became walking sermons. Whether or not Hosea was 
the father of these children is not clear, but the names 
assigned to two of them, at least, might point to their 
mother’s unfaithfulness. 

The prophetic significance of the marriage is clear. 
Israel, the bride of Yahweh, is disloyal and unworthy of 
Yahweh’s great love. Therefore she must go into exile 
away from the presence of Yahweh until she learns the 
worth of Yahweh’s love and longs for renewed fellowship 
with him. But, after this period of exile, she will be 
brought back home and given a new chance. So that from 
the very beginning of Hosea’s prophetic career, he evi- 
dently preached both punishment and deliverance. The 
nature of Israel’s disloyalty is clearly brought out in 
Hosea, chapter 2. It is that she gives gratitude and praise 

* This was first pointed out by Steuernagel, of. cit., pp. 605 f. 


60 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


to the Baalim for the fruits of the soil, not acknowledging 
Yahweh as the giver of these gifts: 


For she said, “I will go after my lovers, 

Who give me my bread and my water, 

My wool, and my flax, my oil and my drink.” 
Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns, 
So that she will not find her paths. 

And she will pursue her lovers, 

But not overtake them; 

And she will seek them, 

But will not find them. 

And she will say, “I will go back to my first husband, 
For it was better with me then than now.” 

And she did not know 

That it was I who gave her 

The corn and the new wine and the oil; 

And that I increased her silver 

And the gold which they made into the Baal. 
Therefore I will take back my corn in its time, 
And my new wine in its season; 

And I will rescue my wool and my flax, 

So that she cannot cover her nakedness. 

And now I will expose her shame to the eyes of her lovers; 
And none can deliver her from my hand. 

And I will bring to an end all her mirth, 

Her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, 
And all her fixed seasons. 

And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, 
Whereof she said, ‘“They are my hire, 

Which my lovers have given me.” 

And I will make them a wilderness, 

And the beasts of the field shall devour them. 
And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, 
To whom she sacrificed, 

And she put on her nose-ring and her necklace, 
And went after her lovers; 

But she forgot me! It is the oracle of Yahweh.? 


t Hos. 2: 5-13. 


AMOS AND HOSEA 61 


Words like these reveal a strange situation. Yahweh even 
now in the eighth century B.c. has not yet come to be 
thought of by Northern Israel as the God of the soil and 
its products. This was the struggle into which Elijah 
threw himself a century earlier. How long had it lasted? 
When the Hebrews came in as nomads from the desert, 
they were under the necessity of learning the arts of 
agriculture and civilization as embodied in the life of 
Canaan. The only possible teachers of these arts were 
their Canaanitish neighbors. Israel had to go to school to 
Canaanitish masters. But agriculture among early peoples 
was always, and is yet in many places, inseparably asso- 
ciated with religion. Tolearnagriculture asit was preached 
in Canaan was impossible without learning Baalism at 
the same time. It was the task of loyal Yahweh worship- 
ers to learn to think of agriculture in association with 
Yahweh and to supplant Baal by Yahweh in the whole 
round of agricultural life. This was naturally a process 
requiring considerable time. If the Habiri of the Tell-el- 
Amarna Tablets are correctly connected with the He- 
brews, the latter entered Canaan in the fifteenth century 
B.c., roughly speaking, seven centuries before the days of 
Hosea. The exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt cannot 
have happened later than the thirteenth century B.c. If 
the recognition of Yahweh as the God of the harvests was 
delayed five or seven centuries, how did it happen that 
Yahweh survived as the God of Israel? And why did he 
finally achieve the recognition that had been so long de- 
layed? These are problems still awaiting solution. 
Hosea’s message centers in the thought of God. Amos 
had been vitally concerned about the wrongs done to man 
by his fellow-man; Hosea is equally concerned about the 


\ 


62 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


misconceptions of God prevailing in the popular cultus. 
Amos objected to cultus as a wholly unsatisfactory sub- 
stitute for righteousness; Hosea sees in the cultus of the 
time a gross misrepresentation of God. He was the first 
known prophet to attack image worship.’ His conception 
of God was too spiritual to permit so crass a representa- 
tion of Yahweh as an idol in human or animal form. He 
derided the idea that men by their own hands could make 
God.? That an ox or a calf should symbolize Yahweh 
to his people was for Hosea an intolerable thought. How 
absurd such materialistic thinking seemed to him appears 
from the scorn he put into words in the phrase, “men 
kissing calves!’’3 It was because of such sensuous concep- 
tions and practices that Hosea came to the firm conviction 
that the people and their official guides in religion knew 
nothing about God. He reverted to this thought re- 
peatedly: 

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; 

Because you have rejected knowledge, 

I too will reject you that you shall not be priest of mine; 


And since you have forgotten the law of your God, 

I too will forget your children.4 

Harlotry, and wine and new wine take away the understanding, 
My people consults its tree, 

And its staff informs it. 

For a harlotrous spirit has led them astray, 

And they have played the harlot away from their God.s 


Hosea displayed keen insight in this diagnosis of Israel’s 
sin. He grasped the whole ethical and religious problem 
* Hos, 4212; °17}°11 223/043 3. 3'Hos. 13:2; iS:siimoeeee 

2 Hos. 8:6; 14:3. 4 Hos. 4:6. 
5 Hos. 4:11, 12. See also Hos. 4:14; 5:4; 6:6; 8:of. 


AMOS AND HOSEA 63 


in one comprehensive view. All Israel’s sin and trouble 
were traced back by him to one single cause, viz., the 
failure of Israel to understand aright the character of 
Yahweh. If they would but learn to know Yahweh aright, 
the cultus would be rightly used and interpreted; the 
social order would be relieved of its abuses; and the 
foreign policy of Israel would be wisely conceived and 
conducted. 

The political situation in Israel was a matter of great 
concern to Hosea. He was living in the midst of the 
troubled times following the death of Jeroboam. One king 
followed another in rapid succession. The air was sur- 
charged with conspiracy all the time. He looked for the 
massacre by Jehu at Jezreel to be avenged upon Jehu’s 
family. He declared the murderers who succeeded one 
another upon the throne to be kings lacking the divine 
ordination to their office.” He boldly denounced the king 
and court for the unblushing sensuality of their conduct.3 
He threatened the royal house with destruction and the 
nation with exile.4 Not least of Israel’s crimes in Hosea’s 
eyes was the spirit of distrust in Yahweh shown by the fact 
that the government was seeking to establish alliances 
or secret treaties with foreign powers. Sometimes the 
policy of dependence upon Assyria was dominant; but 
when the burden of such support became too heavy, inter- 
est turned to Egypt. But Hosea was certain that such 
policies were futile.s Yahweh, and he alone, could furnish 
Israel the help needed. To call in any other ally was to 


t Hos. 1:4f. 3 Hos. 7:3-7. 
2 Hos. 8:4. 4 Hos. 10:63 9:3. 
5 Hos. 5:13; 7:8-12; 8:81.; 12:13 14:3. 


64 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


insult Yahweh grossly. Indeed such alliances, as a matter 
of fact, always involved some sort of formal acknowledg- 
ment of the god or gods of the allied power. Naturally, 
therefore, foreign alliances were opposed by all the proph- 
ets, who were nothing if not loyal to Yahweh as the only 
God to be acknowledged by Israel. 

The text of Hosea as it now stands contains glowing 
pictures of the prosperity and glory in store for Israel after 
her punishment is past.’ But these passages are in all 
probability the product of later editors.? Hosea was not 
without hope. He could not have preached to his people 
had he known that such preaching was futile and final and 
that complete destruction was inevitable for his people. 
All his work constituted a great effort to turn Israel’s mind 
toward repentance, in order that escape might be found 
from complete destruction. He seems to have regarded 
captivity in foreign lands as certain. But he looked for 
that exile to bring Israel to its right mind and to prepare 
the way for a return to the homeland. The story of the 
marriage, however interpreted, presupposes the thought 
of restoration after the period of discipline. But Hosea 
was not concerned to picture the restored Israel in such 
definite, tangible, and materialistic prosperity as the 
pictures of the future in the book now present. If the text 
of the book is now arranged approximately in keeping 
with the order in which it was spoken by Hosea, it is of 
interest to see that Hosea’s last message pleads with Israel 
to turn her back upon the sins of the past and seek ear- 
nestly the forgiveness of Yahweh: 

t Hos. 1:10—2:1; 2:14-16, 18-23; 3:5; 11:8-11; 14: 4-9. 

2 See the commentaries of W. R. Harper, Nowack, and Marti; and 
cf. E. Sellin, Zwélfprophetenbuch (1923), ad loc. 


AMOS AND HOSEA 65 


Turn, O Israel, unto Yahweh, your God; 

For you have stumbled through your guilt. 

Take with you words and return unto Yahweh, ? 

Say unto him, ‘‘Pardon all our guilt, 

And take away our sin; 

That we may requite thee the fruit of our lips. 

Assyria will not save us; 

Upon horses we will not ride; 

Nor will we say again to the work of our hands, Our God.’ 


t Hos. 14:1-3. There is no need to deny these words to Hosea; they 
are in close accord with the whole tenor of his message. 


CHAPTER V 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL: FROM TIGLATH- 
PILESER TO SARGON 


With the accession of Tiglath-Pileser to the Assyrian 
throne in 745 B.C., the empire took on new life. Tiglath- 
Pileser at once began active operations against his coun- 
try’s foes, and in 745-744 B.c. drove out the Aramean 
tribes that had encroached upon the eastern borders of 
Assyria between the Lower Zab and the Uknu rivers. In 
743 B.C. he started west toward Syria, but after crossing 
the Euphrates in his march upon Arpad, he learned that 
Sardur III, of Urartu, had crossed the mountains and 
descended upon the upper valley of the Euphrates. This 
intervention of Urartu at a critical juncture in the history 
of Syria probably was due to deliberate co-operation be- 
tween Syria and Urartu against Assyria. Tiglath-Pileser 
at once returned across the Euphrates and administered 
a decisive defeat to Sardur III. For the next three years 
Tiglath-Pileser campaigned continuously in Northern 
Syria, and in 740 B.c. overthrew Arpad. Thereupon Da- 
mascus, Tyre, and other states of North Syria submitted 
to him and the whole region was organized as a province 
of the Assyrian Empire. At the same time, the leading 
states of Central Syria paid him tribute. In 738 B.c. 
hostilities broke out in Central Syria which called Tiglath- 
Pileser west again. He devastated Hamath and reduced 
it to a province of Assyria. On this occasion, he received 
tribute from Menahem, of Israel. 

66 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 67 


At the same time, the peoples of Urartu were making 
trouble for Assyria. In 739 and 736 B.c. Tiglath-Pileser 
conducted campaigns against Urartu in the region tothe 
south of Lake Van and restored the power and prestige 
of Assyria there. In 735 B.c. he attacked Turuspa, the 
capital city of Urartu, partly destroying it and devas- 
tating the whole land of Urartu. But the states of Syria 
rallied once more to the aid of Urartu, their ally, and 
Tiglath-Pileser was called west again in 735-734 B.C. _ 

King Uzziah, of Judah, had died in 740 B.c. In that 
same year the call to prophesy had come to Isaiah, of 
Jerusalem (Isa. 6:1). This call came in the form of a 
vision in the Temple at Jerusalem. The writing down of 
this experience may very well have followed at a some- 
what later date; perhaps upon some occasion when he was 
challenged by the opposition to give proof of his right to 
prophesy. In that case his initial experience would be 
somewhat colored in the telling by the succeeding experi- 
ence of his prophetic activity. This would account in part 
for the gloomy outlook of his vision. The content of the 
vision is very clear. The consciousness of the glory and 
majesty of Yahweh as very God overwhelms Isaiah to 
such a point as that he feels himself doomed to destruction 
because he has seen what no mortal may look upon and 
live. The term “holy” affirmed by the seraphs does not 
here connote a moral idea, but a metaphysical one; for 
it is the name applied to the very essence of deity itself 

«The best commentaries on Isaiah are G. B. Gray (ror2); G. W. 
Wade (1911); J. Skinner (1915); O. C. Whitehouse (1905); Bernhard 
Duhm (3d ed., 1914); and Karl Marti (1900); cf. also T. K. Cheyne, 
Introduction to the Book of Isaiah (1895). An excellent survey of recent 


literature on Isaiah is furnished by Kemper Fullerton, Harvard Theo- 
logical Review, VI (1913), 478-520. 


68 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


as distinguished from humanity. Thereupon one of the 
seraphs touches Isaiah’s lips with a live coal taken from 
the altar and assures him that this act has cleansed him 
from impurity and put him in harmony with the exalted 
Yahweh. Immediately Isaiah hears a voice crying: 


Whom shall I send forth, and who will go for us? 


To this call he instantly responds: 


Here am I! Send me. 


The commission is then laid upon Isaiah to go and preach 
to his people; though he is assured, in the same breath, 
that the people will not listen to him and will be unable 
to understand him. To Isaiah’s protesting question as to 
the length of such a ministry, the answer is given that it 
must continue till his people are totally destroyed. That 
a call such as that should come to a young man seems 
almost incredible. How could anyone dream of preaching 
if he were assured in advance that his work would be 
totally in vain?? The call, which Isaiah came to interpret 
in this gloomy way early in his career, even if he did not 
originally so conceive it, has a very important bearing 
upon the question as to whether Isaiah preached the 
messianic hope or not. There was nothing of messianism 
involved in his call. He felt himself charged with a mes- 
sage of unavailing denunciation and threatening. Over- 
whelming destruction is in store for Judah; but the means 
of the punishment is not yet clearly envisaged, as was 
the case also with Amos and Hosea. 


t The last phrase of vs. 13 is lacking from the Greek version and is 
thus clearly marked as a very late addition to the text of Isaiah. It is 
probable that vss. 12 and 13 are wholly late, even though they do not 
hold hope, as vs. 13 does; see Duhm and Marti, ad loc. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 69 


The early preaching of Isaiah, in the years before the 
outbreak of the Syro-Ephraimitish War, was to a great 
extent a continuation and repetition of the message of his 
predecessors, Amos and Hosea. The similarity of his 
preaching to that of Amos would almost suggest the de- 
pendence of Isaiah upon the work of that older prophet. 
The sermons of Isaiah that belonged to this period are (1) 
“The Terror of the Coming Day of Yahweh”’;? (2) ‘“The 
Fall of Judah’s Wicked Leaders” ;? (3) ‘‘The Frivolity and 
Sensuality of the Women of Wealth’’;3 (4) ‘““The Parable 
of the Unprofitable Vineyard’’;4 (5) “‘The Ruin of Sa- 
maria.”’> In these sermons Isaiah emphasizes the sin of 
Israel as it finds expression in idolatry, soothsaying, mil- 
itarism, pride and vain-glory, materialism, sensuality, 
impoverishment of the poor, drunkenness, skepticism, 
bribery, and perversion of justice. The emphasis upon 
ingratitude in the parable of the Vineyard recalls Hosea’s 
demand for love and loyalty toward Yahweh. The form 
of 9:8—10:4, with its strophes ending in a recurring re- 
frain and its threat of downfall for Samaria, reminds us 
of the similar series of refrains in Amos 4:4-11. Amos’ 
conception of the Day of Yahweh comes back with in- 
creased intensity in Isaiah’s picture of its terrors. The 
character of the women whom Isaiah denounces suggests 
the epithet “‘kine of Bashan,” which Amos applied to the 
same women;° and the crimes of the rich against which 
Isaiah protests are the same as those exposed by Amos.’ 
The punishment threatened by Isaiah is a vague and 


isay.ec0-2T. 4154.5: 1-24. 
21a.) 321-15. 5 Isa. 9:8—10:4 and 5: 25-29. 
3Tsa. 3:16-24. 6 Amos 4:1. 


7Cf., e.g., Amos 2:6-8 and Isa. 3:14 f. 


70 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


terrible catastrophe sent by Yahweh, as it was in Amos, 
and not a specific and human event to be mediated by 
some historical agent. Isaiah’s thought of the Remnant 
is again related to that of Amos* and belongs to this 
earliest period of his career. The name Shear-Jashub? was 
antecedent to the Syro-Ephraimitish War. It had prob- 
ably been given the boy at his birth, and had been the 
occasion of one or more sermons at that time. The struc- 
ture of the name shows that the emphasis was on the 
Remnant-idea and not upon the “return.” Indeed, it is 
probable that the original form of the name was Shear- 
jesheb, and that it meant ‘‘a remnant will abide,” not 
“will return.’’? In any case, the thought is that a mere 
remnant will survive the terrible disaster of the Day of 
Yahweh. It is a word of punishment, not of promise. 
This message of Isaiah’s youth, with all its dire disaster, 
is addressed to both kingdoms. Amos and Hosea had been 
primarily, if not exclusively, interested in Northern Israel; 
but Isaiah was concerned quite as much with Judah as 
with Israel. He did not shrink from announcing the de- 
struction of his own nation. Nothing could demonstrate 
more conclusively the absolute self-sufficiency of Isaiah’s 
God; he is not dependent upon any nation in the slightest 
degree. Nor could anything prove more clearly the great 
outreach of Isaiah’s faith; though the people of Yahweh 
perish at his hand, Yahweh himself will continue to be 
God. 

A new aspect of the social and political situation pre- 
sented itself with the approach of the Syro-Ephraimitish 


t Amos 5:3-6, 15. coe iy bake 


3 See my article on Shear-jashub in Zeitschrift fiir die alttestament- 
liche Wissenschaft, XXIV (1914), 219-24. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 71 


invasion of Judah. This war was an inheritance of Ahaz 
from Jotham, his father.‘ Apparently, a great coalition 
movement of the western states against Assyria was under 
way. In this movement Damascus and Samaria, at least, 
were involved. Judah had evidently refused to co-operate 
in the revolt, and was either neutral or pro-Assyrian.? 
Menahem, of Samaria, had made terms with Assyria in | 
738 B.C. His son, Pekahiah, probably continued the policy 
of submission to Assyria, but after two years he was 
assassinated by Pekah, who quite evidently was anti- 
Assyrian and perhaps pro-Urartu in his politics. This 
brought on the attack upon Judah. When the army of 
Damascus had joined forces with that of Samaria upon 
the soil of Israel, and a state bordering upon panic had 
seized the minds of the people of Judah and their king,3 
the conviction came to Isaiah that he must speak the will 
of Yahweh to his king. Accompanied by his little son, 
Shear-Yesheb, he encountered Ahaz, who was on a tour 
of inspection of the water-supply of Jerusalem in anticipa- 
tion of the threatened siege of the city. The message of 
Isaiah was to the effect that Ahaz should take heart and 
not be dismayed by two such futile foes as Rezin and 
Pekah. Though they were seeking to split Judah by inter- 
nal factions‘ and to set up a new king who would be favor- 
able to their interests, their plans were doomed to failure.s 

tIT Kings 15:37. 

2 Cf. the loyalty of Panammu II and Bar-rekub, kings of Sam/’al, to 
Tiglath-Pileser, when Ya’udi was fighting him; see the inscription of 
Bar-rekub in G. A. Cooke’s North Semitic Inscriptions (1903), pp. 171 ff. 

3 Isa. 7:2. 


4On the meaning of Isa. 7:6, see A. Brux, American Journal of 
Semitic Languages and Literatures, XX XIX (1922), 68-71. 


5 The second half of 7:8 is a gloss by a later hand, wholly lacking in 
force if regarded as original. 


72 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


It was a call to unwavering faith in Yahweh. “If you do 
not believe, you will not be established.’ 

This first oracle did not accomplish its purpose. There- 
fore a second was given to Ahaz, either on the same day 
or at some other time. The challenge came to him to ask 
for the performance of a miracle, no matter how extraor- 
dinary it might be, and it should be done for him as a 
demonstration of the fact that the prophet was actually 
speaking the mind of Yahweh. Suppose Ahaz had accept- 
ed this offer, what then? But Ahaz declined, alleging his 
unwillingness to subject Yahweh to such a test. It is quite 
probable that Ahaz had gone so far in his own policy that 
he was afraid to risk the acceptance of the prophet’s 
challenge. It might turn out that the prophet could do 
what he promised, and then Ahaz would be in an em- 
barrassing position! On the other hand, what stupendous 
faith was involved in such a challenge on the part of 
Isaiah—a faith that stopped at nothing. After all, Isaiah 
was but calling upon Ahaz to exercise a trust in Yahweh 
that was puny as compared with Isaiah’s own robust and 
gigantic faith. However, when Ahaz declined to choose a 
miracle, Isaiah proceeded to give him a “‘sign” from Yah- 
weh himself: 


Behold, a young woman is with child and will bear a son and 
will call his name “Immanuel.” For before the lad knows how to 
reject the bad and choose the good, the land on account of whose 
two kings you are in terror will be deserted. 


The meaning of this is that it will be a custom with ex- 
pectant mothers to name their children ‘‘Immanuel,”’ i.e., 

*In the Hebrew there is a clever play upon words which cannot be 
satisfactorily carried over into English. 


2Jsa. 7:14, 16. Vs. 15 is here omitted as a gloss; see Duhm’s Com- 
mentary, ad loc., and J. M. Powis Smith, American Journal of Semiiic 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 73 


“God is with us,” in grateful recognition of the fact that 
Yahweh has delivered his people from their foes. The 
prophet is sure that this deliverance is close at hand. It is 
thus another call to Ahaz to have faith in Yahweh, just 
as the previous oracle was. The “‘sign”’ is not something 
extraordinary done in advance of the fulfilment of the 
prophecy, but it is an ordinary thing foretold before it 
happens." 

A third oracle given in connection with the Syro- 
Ephraimitish War is contained in Isa. 8:1-4. Here, again, 
Isaiah is concerned with a “‘sign” that is to demonstrate 
after the predicted event has come to pass that the proph- 
et had known it and foretold it. He was bidden by Yah- 
weh to prepare a clay tablet and to inscribe upon it in 
easily legible characters the four words, lemdhér shdldl 
hash bdz, i.e., “for swift is spoil, speedy is prey.’ Two 
well-known men were called as witnesses to the writing 
of this name, one of them the high priest. Then, almost 
a year later, when the wife of Isaiah presented him with 
another son, the prophet bestowed upon him the fore- 
going name. The boy and the tablet together gave great 
prominence to Isaiah’s prophecy of the overthrow of 
Damascus and Samaria. All three of the oracles con- 
sidered must have been uttered before Isaiah became 
aware of the fact that Ahaz had summoned Assyria to his 
aid.? 
oe and Literatures, XL (1924), 292-94. The verse interrupts the 
close connection between vss. 14 and 16, and is best accounted for as an 
attempt on the part of a later reader to fix more definitely the date before 
which the prediction was to be fulfilled. 

? For similar “signs,” see Exod. 3:12; Isa. 37:30. 


?II Kings 16:7 ff. Tiglath-Pileser’s own account of his campaign 
against Damascus and Samaria is contained in his Avmals and in another 


74 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Isaiah’s desire was to encourage Ahaz to put his trust 
in Yahweh and not to make application to Tiglath-Pileser, 
of Assyria, for aid. As we know from II Kings 16:7, Ahaz 
took the apparently more practical program of appeal to 
Assyria. But was it in reality any more practical? By 
calling in Tiglath-Pileser, Ahaz put himself and his coun- 
try under vassalage to Assyria, with the accompanying 
necessity of paying tribute. This obligation was respon- 
sible for much of Judah’s later trouble. Had Ahaz heeded 
Isaiah, he would have had to put up a stiff resistance for 
a few months to the invaders, it is true; but Tiglath- 
Pileser would ultimately have come to his aid on his own 
account, for the Assyrian would not have been long igno- 
rant of the fact that the whole northern movement was 
anti-Assyrian in its scope and purpose. Tiglath-Pileser 
could have been trusted to look out for Assyria’s inter- 
ests; and Judah would have been under no obligation to 
the great king. On the whole, the obligation would have 
lain the other way. Isaiah was not so impracticable a 
dreamer, on this occasion, at least, as might appear. As 
it was, Tiglath-Pileser came west and punished the rebels 
severely. Israel lost her territory east of the Jordan," the 
population of which was deported to Assyria;? and Judah 
paid heavily for the relief she obtained through Assyria. 

When the prophet learned that Ahaz had disregarded 
the repeated assurance from Yahweh, in that he had 


small inscription; see S. A. B. Mercer, Extra-Biblical Sources (1913), pp. 
38-40; R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (1912), pp. 
316-21; George A. Barton, Archaeology and the Bible (1916), pp. 368 f. 
TIT Kings 15:29. 
2 For Tiglath-Pileser’s account of this see S. A. B. Mercer, op. cit., 
Pp. 40. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 75 


called upon Tiglath-Pileser for help, the whole tone of his 
prophecy changed. One good reason why Isaiah so stren- 
uously objected to the Assyrian alliance lay in the fact 
that it involved a recognition of the Assyrian gods and so 
involved disloyalty to Yahweh, as well as a heavy burden 
of tribute to be paid by the common people of the land. 
That Isaiah’s objections were well grounded is clear from 
the record in II Kings 16:7-18. Immediately after Ahaz 
returned from Damascus, whither he had gone to pay his 
respects to Tiglath-Pileser, he went to inspect the new 
altar that he had ordered to be built in the Temple at 
Jerusalem. This was a duplicate of an Assyrian altar 
which he had seen at Damascus; and it was erected on the 
site of the old altar of Yahweh which was displaced and 
reduced in rank. This, with other accessory changes, was 
all done “because of the king of Assyria.’”’ The robbery 
and impoverishment of Yahweh’s Temple in order that 
the king and gods of Assyria might receive the tribute 
demanded by them, and the displacement of Yahweh’s 
altar that in some way acknowledged the supremacy of 
Assur, god of Assyria, were more than Isaiah’s loyalty 
to Yahweh could contemplate with equanimity. 

To the days immediately following Isaiah’s discovery 
of the faithless policy of King Ahaz probably belong the 
fragments of his prophecy now imbedded in Isa. 7:17-25 
and 8:5-22. The verses here that may with assurance be 
credited to Isaiah himself are 7:18--20 and 8: 5-8, 11-18. 
In these utterances Isaiah expressed his conviction that 
Ahaz, by rejecting the call to trust in Yahweh only, has 


* What the narrator in Kings euphemistically calls ‘“‘a present,” 
Tiglath-Pileser in his Nimrod Inscription lists as “tribute”; see R. F. 
Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature (1901), p. 57. 


76 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


prepared for himself and his people a terrible disaster from 
which there can be no escape: 


Inasmuch as this people has rejected 

The waters of Shiloach that run smoothly;? 
Therefore, behold, the Lord will bring up upon them 
The waters of the River that are mighty and many;? 
And it will rise over all its channels, 

And run over all its banks; 

And it will sweep on into Judah, an overflowing flood, 
And will reach up to the neck.3 


In Isa. 8:11-18 we find some words that were ap- 
parently spoken by Isaiah to a group of his followers and 
supporters. The precise date of their utterance is un- 
known, but it was prior to 721 B.C., when Samaria fell, 
and it may have closed Isaiah’s activity in connection 
with the Syro-Ephraimitish War. Its position in the text, 
at least, points to such a connection. The exact bearing 
of this message upon that situation or any other definite 
one is uncertain. 


You shall not say “holy” of anything of which this people says 
“holy” ;4 and what it fears you shall not fear or dread. Yahweh of 


«The Hebrew text adds here an unintelligible phrase, saying some- 
thing about “joy” and “Rezin, the son of Remaliah.” 


2'The Hebrew text adds here ‘‘the king of Assyria and all his glory,” 
which is probably a correct interpretation of Isaiah’s thought by a later 
editor. 

3JTsa. 8:6-8a. The Hebrew adds here a clause that is clearly a later 
comment: “And the spreading out of his wings will fill the breadth of thy 
land, O Immanuel.” 

4'The Hebrew has “conspiracy” for “holy”; but the two words are 
easily confused in Hebrew and the use of “holy” for Yahweh in the follow- 
ing clauses makes a strong probability for “holy” in the first verse. On 
the other hand, “conspiracy” would give a close connection with the 
Syro-Ephraimitish War. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 17 


hosts is he whom you shall call “holy”; and he shall be your fear, 
and he shall be your dread. And he shall be a sanctuary and a 
tripping stone and a stumbling block to both the houses of Israel; 
a trap and a snare to the inhabitant of Jerusalem. And many will 
stumble on them and fall and be broken and snared and captured. 


Perhaps the prophet is here expressing his mind as to the 
new type of worship which Ahaz had imported from 
Assyria by way of Damascus. 

Whatever may have been the occasion of the fore- 
going oracle, in Isa. 8:16—18 are found some instructions 
to his disciples and followers given at a time when he fully 
intended to close his prophetic career. Perhaps it was in 
a period of depression after the discovery that his counsel 
in the Syro-Ephraimitish crisis had been wholly ignored. 
He here puts his oracles in trust under the care of his 
disciples, declares his confidence in Yahweh, and states 
his conviction that he himself and his children, whom he 
has used as peripatetic sermons, will in course of time be 
recognized by everybody as signs and portents from Yah- 
weh, 1.e., it will be patent to all eyes that Isaiah was right 
and Ahaz was wrong. It is especially noteworthy in this 
connection that Isaiah seems to have given up hope for 
the deliverance of Judah; he seems to have been con- 
vinced that the nation was doomed; yet, he holds fast 
to his faith in Yahweh notwithstanding. He has, con- 
sciously or unconsciously, broken away from the national 
conception of Yahweh as God of the Jewish nation, and is 
now thinking of him as the God of a small group of the 
pious, the God of a non-political community of the faith- 
ful. The members of the community are still Jews, of 
course, but their relationship to Yahweh is primarily con- 
ditioned by their piety, not by their race. Neither Isaiah 


78 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


nor any of his immediate successors carried this position 
further. A longer training in the school of suffering was 
the prime requisite to further progress. 

The next crisis in Palestine involved the fall of Sa- 
maria and the exile of the people of Israel in 721 B.c. The 
experiences of 735 had not taught Israel the necessary 
lesson of submission to and acceptance of the yoke of 
Assyria. Hoshea, upon the death of the great Tiglath- 
Pileser in 727 B.c., promptly joined Egypt and other 
western states in an attempt to throw off the Assyrian 
yoke; but Shalmaneser IV (727-722 B.c.) quickly quelled 
this uprising and collected tribute from Hoshea and his 
allies? In 725 B.c., however, revolt broke out again, 
headed by the same group. Hoshea seems to have been 
captured at once by the Assyrians,? but Samaria yielded 
only in 722-721 B.c., after undergoing the protracted 
agonies of a three-year siege. The coup de grace was 


« The name of the king of Egypt as given in II Kings 17:4 is So. The 
identification with any known pharaoh is dubious. The least unlikely 
attempt is that which makes him the same as the Sib’e who in alliance 
with the Philistines opposed Sargon in 720 B.c. and in 711 B.c., at which 
later time he was a general of the pharaoh. The cartouche of a minor 
dynast bearing the name Sb(y) has been found belonging to the same 
period as Hoshea. The equivalence of the Hebrew w and the Egyptian 
and Assyrian } is shown by many cases of interchange. See G. Moller, 
Orientalistische Literatur-Zeitung for 1919, cols. 145 ff. 


2TI Kings 17:3. 


3 No mention is made of Hoshea in the Assyrian account of the final 
capture of Samaria; and II Kings 17:4 states that Hoshea was imprisoned 
by Shalmaneser, who then proceeded to besiege the capital. 


4 For the reports of Shalmaneser and Sargon upon these events, see 
S. A. B. Mercer, Extra-Biblical Sources for Hebrew and Jewish History 
(1913), pp. 40-43; R. W. Rogers, neuorre Parallels to the Old Testament 


(1912), pp. 323-36. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 79 


given her by Sargon, the new king of Assyria, Shalmanesér 
having died while the siege was in progress." 

So great an event as the peril to Samaria could not fail 
to stir the mind of Isaiah. It was too near home to be 
disregarded. Further, the people of Samaria were also He- 
brews and worshiped the same Yahweh as their brethren 
of the south. In Isa. 14:28-32, in its original form, we 
probably have an oracle spoken against Philistia at the 
time of the death of Tiglath-Pileser (727 B.c.), when the 
smoldering longings for freedom from Assyria were burst- 
ing into flame.? Isaiah put himself on record as convinced 
that the movement toward revolt was ill advised, and 
would bring down dire disaster upon the heads of the 
participants. The influence of Isaiah may have had much 
to do with keeping Judah quiescent. Perhaps Isa. 32:9- 
14 belongs to this period also. It is an oracle against the 
rich women of Jerusalem. They are denounced for their 
careless ease and told that their beloved city will be laid 
waste and desolate, “‘a joy of wild asses, a pasture for 
flocks.”” How unreal that must have sounded in the ears 
of people who had looked upon the substantial walls of 
Jerusalem and its great temple all their lives and had 
come to think of them as abiding forever! In the same 
period, or at an earlier date, belongs the scathing attack 
upon the women of Jerusalem in Isa. 3:16—4:1. Their 
absorbing interest in the details of their personal appear- 
ance is satirized mercilessly, and with considerable artistic 
skill. A similar dreadful fate for Jerusalem to that threat- 

‘II Kings 17:1-6 apparently credits Shalmaneser with the capture 
of Samaria; but the king who captured Samaria is not actually named. 


2 See Gray’s Commentary, in loc., for varying views as to the occasion 
and meaning of this oracle. 


80 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


ened in Isa. 32:9 ff. is here held up for the contemplation 
of these sensuous leaders of the fashions of the city. The 
only prophecy directed straight at the people of Samaria 
themselves in the period just before their final overthrow 
is Isa. 28:1-4. This oracle was probably uttered early in 
the course of the revolt, before the final three-year siege 
had set in. The dissipated people of Samaria are thought 
of here as incapable of putting up a stiff resistance and as 
an easy and speedy prey to the victorious Assyrians. As 
a matter of fact, it took the army of Shalmaneser and 
Sargon three years to capture the city. When we realize 
what a three-year siege by the most efficient war-machine 
of the ancient world must have meant to the citizens of 
Samaria, we may be a bit reluctant to accept Isaiah’s 
characterization of the people and their leaders as morally 
degraded and powerless. A long siege is a severe test of 
character. The siege of Samaria, like the defense of Ver- 
dun, is an eloquent testimonial to the moral soundness of 
the people involved in those endurance tests. 

The downfall of Samaria brought about the end of the 
northern kingdom, which now became an Assyrian prov- 
ince. Natives of other parts of the Assyrian Empire were 
imported to take the place of the twenty-seven thousand 
deported citizens. The result was the rise of a mixed 
people in Northern Israel, who were mongrel in religion as 
well as in blood.? With the cessation of the northern king- 
dom came also the cessation of its historical tradition. 

t For the Hebrew record, see II Kings 17:5, 6, 24 ff. For the accounts 
of Shalmaneser and Sargon, see S. A. B. Mercer, op. cit., p. 43; and 


R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (1912), pp. 317- 
26; and George A. Barton, The Bible and Archaeology (1916), pp. 369 f. 


2 See II Kings 17:25 ff. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 81 


The literature of the north was preserved only in so far as 
it fell into the hands of the southern Jews, with whom it 
underwent a radical revision from the point of view of the 
interests and needs of Judah. Judah was now brought face 
to face with Assyria, who became the nearest neighbor 
on the north. There was no longer any windshield for 
Judah against the bitter blasts from the north. Egypt, 
also, was now in even more immediate danger from Assyria 
than ever before. This situation was responsible for the 
nervousness of Egyptian politicians from this time on; 
and that in turn was a constant source of trouble for 
Judah. The prophets are now concerned only with the 
problems of Judah; but the problems of Judah were hence- 
forth world-problems; and Yahweh’s chances for world- 
recognition are now in Judah’s hands. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL: FROM SARGON 
TO SENNACHERIB 


The downfall of Samaria did not bring peace to West- 
ern Asia. The thirst for liberty among the small nations 
of the Mediterranean coast-lands could not be quenched 
by tyranny. Revolts followed one another in the Assyrian 
Empire with lightning-like rapidity. In 720 B.c., im- 
mediately after the great disaster of 722-721 B.C., Sa- 
maria joined with Hamath, Arpad, Simirra, and Damas- 
cus in a desperate struggle for freedom. Egypt, Philistia, 
and some Arabian tribes were also involved in this revolt. 
But Sargon quickly suppressed this rebellion, destroying 
cities, devastating countries, and deporting peoples, as in 
the case of Samaria in 721 B.c.? Again, in 715 B.C., Sargon 
had dealings with Samaria. After a campaign against 
some Arab tribes in that year, he settled some of his 
Arab captives in Samaria.? Right at the beginning of 
Sargon’s reign, Marduk-apal-iddin, known in Hebrew as 
Merodach-baladan, had established the independence 
of Babylonia, wresting the crown out of the grasp of 
Assyria. Elam also joined with Babylon in the struggle 
against Assyria. Such a blow to the power of Sargon be- 
fore he could establish himself firmly on the throne brought 
new hope and courage to all of the foes of Assyria. Among 
these not the least dangerous were the peoples of Urartu, 

™See R. W. Rogers, op. cit., p. 327. 

2 See Sargon’s ‘‘Annals,” in R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian 


Literature (1901), p. 60. 
82 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 83 


in the north, who became a constant peril to Assyria. 
Sargon conducted campaigns against Urartu and its allies 
in 719, 718, 716, 715, 714, 713, and 711 B.c, To add to 
Sargon’s troubles, Shabaka, the Ethiopian, became master 
of Egypt in 712 B.c., and at once became active in stirring 
up difficulties for Sargon in the west. Sargon was thus 
completely surrounded by enemies. Elam on the east co- 
operated with Babylonia on the south; on the north, 
Urartu and its neighbors from the upper Mediterranean 
coast-lands to the eastern shores of Lake Urumia joined 
hands against him; and in the west and southwest, Syria, 
Palestine, Egypt, and Arabian clans completed the circle. 
But Sargon, like a lion surrounded by jackals, shook them 
all off and brought them into subjection. 

Of immediate interest is the revolt of Ashdod referred 
to in Isa. 20:1 ff. This was part of a concerted movement 
against Sargon by Philistia, Egypt, Moab, Edom, and 
Judah in the years 713-711 B.c. The enterprise was a 
total failure, for the allies suffered an ignominious defeat 
at the hands of Sargon’s forces.’ In connection with this 
revolt, Isaiah again appeared in action. To this crisis in 
Judah’s fortunes Isa. 20:1-6 is clearly to be attached; 
perhaps Isa. 28:7-29, 29:1-4, 22:15-18, 1:18-20, and 
5:8-24 also belong here. The oracle in Isa. 20:1-6 evi- 
dently was spoken early in the course of the conspiracy, 
and its message was personally and vividly illustrated 
afresh every time that Isaiah appeared upon the streets 
of Jerusalem. This exhibition of himself for homiletical 
purposes extended over a period of “three years.”’ This 

t See Sargon’s “Annals” and two other inscriptions for the Assyrian 
reports; S. A. B. Mercer, Extra-Biblical Sources (1913), pp. 45 f.; R. W. 


Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels (1912), pp. 328-31; George A. Barton, 
Archaeology and the Bible (1916), pp. 371 f. 


84 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


may mean continuous parts of three years, beginning, for 
example, in the latter part of 713 B.c., and ending in the 
beginning of 711 B.c. That Isaiah went about stark naked, 
there is no sufficient reason to doubt. That is the common 
meaning of the word used; that is called for by the appli- 
cation of the action in verse 4; and that was a common 
way of treating captives on the part of the Assyrian con- 
querors.'! Through this dramatic procedure Isaiah sought 
in vain to keep Judah from participating in the revolt. He 
was convinced that Egypt and Ethiopia would render no 
adequate assistance against Assyria, but would them- 
selves fall a prey to Sargon’s might and suffer deportation 
of their population. His expectations in this latter respect 
were not completely fulfilled; Sargon did not set foot in 
Egypt, but he did force the king of Meluchha? to sur- 
render to Assyria the fugitive king of Ashdod who had 
taken refuge with him. Whether any unusual punish- 
ment was inflicted upon Judah or not is told us by neither 
Sargon nor the Hebrew accounts. Certainly, heavy trib- 
ute would be levied at the least. Possibly Isa. 10:28-32 
is the prophet’s anticipation of a direct attack upon Jeru- 
salem at this time. If so, he vividly describes the march 
as it progresses stage by stage up to the very outskirts of 
Jerusalem. 

Isaiah’s judgment upon the lives of the official priests 
and prophets of his day was very severe. He charged 
them with drunkenness and mad revelry, and with an 

™See e.g., Eduard Meyer, Sumerier und Semiten in Babylonien 
(1906), p. 25; G. Contenau, La Glyptique Syro-Hittite (1922), Plate I; 
A. T. Olmstead, History of Assyria (1923), pp. 112, 115f., 126, 138; 


L. W. King, Bronze Reliefs from the Gates of Shalmaneser (1915), Plates 
IV, X, XV, XLVI, LXXTV. 


2 Apparently a name for Ethiopia or some part thereof. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 85 


attitude of scorn toward the truth of God as Isaiah him- 
self preached it. They were putting their confidence in 
Egypt instead of trusting in Yahweh. That misplaced 
confidence would betray them into the hands of Assyria. 
Apparently, the covenant with Egypt was already opera- 
tive, and just as Ahaz had imported Assyrian practices 
after his appeal to Tiglath-Pileser, so now with the Egyp- 
tian alliance have come in Egyptian religious customs;7 
but it was all to no purpose.” 

To this same period, perhaps, belongs the denuncia- 
tion of Shebna, the king’s treasurer. He doubtless was a 
leader of the court party opposed to Isaiah’s policy, and 
so received the doubtful honor of special treatment at 
Isaiah’s hands. Another oracle that has been much mis- 
understood may also belong here, viz., Isa. 1:18-20: 

“Come, now, and let us confer together,”’ says Yahweh, 

“Tf your sins be like crimson, can they be white like snow? 
If they be red like scarlet, can they be like wool? 
If you be willing and listen, you will eat the good of the land. 
But if you refuse and are stubborn, by the sword will you be 


consumed; 
For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.’’ 


The prophet here says that it is preposterous for Israel to 
continue in outbreaking sins, and yet expect to reap the 
rewards of piety. If they would receive blessings from 
Yahweh as a nation they must conform to his require- 
ments; they will fail to do so on penalty of destruction. 
The last oracle belonging to the crisis of 711 B.C. is 
Isa. 5:8-24. Here Isaiah denounced the land-grabbing 
See Isa. 28: 15-18. lea. 20: 9-22: Cl. 20: 1-4...) -3 lea. 2270510, 

4 The treatment of the two clauses in vs, 18 as interrogative is gram- 


matically permissible, and it is demanded by the context; see Gray’s 
Commentary, ad loc. 


86 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


nobles, who by oppression and extortion were driving men 
and their families off their little holdings and adding them 
to their great estates. The wealth they thus obtain by 
shameful measures they waste upon riotous living. When 
the prophet threatens them with judgment, they jeer at 
him and challenge him to make good upon his threats. 
Judgment will sweep away these men from the land and 
it will become desolate, a pasture land for flocks. All this 
will come to pass because the leaders of Judah have lacked 
understanding. Isaiah’s panacea for all ills in this crisis, 
even as at the time of the Syro-Ephraimitish invasion, 
was faith in God. This would keep Judah from entan- 
gling alliances with foreign peoples who could do nothing 
for her of any value; and it would lead her to walk in 
paths of social justice and so guarantee to her the blessing 
of God. The cornerstone of the true Jerusalem consists 
of a great religious principle: ““He who has faith will not 
be perturbed.’” | 

The last great crisis in the history of Judah during 
the lifetime of Isaiah was the invasion of Sennacherib, 
king of Assyria. When the great conqueror, Sargon, died 
in 705 B.C., the subject-states of Assyria seized upon the 
occasion to strike for freedom. The reports upon the 
course of events vary. Sennacherib himself left a good 
account of his campaigns in what is now known as “‘the 
Taylor Prism.’ In the first year of his reign he overthrew 
Merodach-baladan, of Babylon, who fled for his life. His 
allies the Elamites, certain Arabian peoples, and some 
Aramean clans were also conquered and deported. In the 


* Hebrew is literally “hurry” or “hasten”; the text here is open to 
question. 

2 For the best translation of this inscription, see D. D. Luckenbill, 
The Annals of Sennacherib (1924), pp. 23-47 and 128 ff. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 87 


second year, Sennacherib conquered the Kassites and re- 
ceived tribute from the Medes. Having made things safe 
at home, he turned west in his third year. He first drove 
Luli, king of Sidon, in. flight from his throne and put a 
substitute in his place as vassal. He then worked south- 
ward, overcoming everything in his path. Ashdod, Am- 
mon, Moab, and Edom all brought tribute and submitted 
to his yoke.t He dethroned Zidka, king of Askelon, and 
put a new king in his place, under vassalage to himself. 
Joppa and three other Philistine towns were besieged and 
captured. The citizens of Ekron had revolted against 
their king, Padi, and had handed him over in chains to 
Hezekiah, who held him in prison. Upon the approach of 
Sennacherib they appealed to Egypt and Meluchha for 
help. The Egyptian army was encountered by Sennacherib 
at Altaku and decisively defeated. Then Ekron met its 
fate and was forced to take back Padi as king and become 
tributary to Assyria. 

It was now Hezekiah’s turn to be punished. Sennach- 
erib declares that he besieged and captured “‘forty-six of 
his strong-walled cities and innumerable smaller cities 
round about them”’; that he captured 200,150 people and 
live stock beyond reckoning; and that he shut up Hezekiah 
“ike a caged bird” in Jerusalem, against which he threw 
up fortifications.? He then goes on to say that he turned 
over the captured cities to the kings of Ekron, Ashdod, 


t This stage of the campaign is depicted upon a bas-relief in Sennach- 
erib’s palace which represents him seated upon his throne at Lachish and 
receiving tribute and submission from the defeated kings; see C. J. Ball, 
Light from the East (1899), pp. 191, 193; and A. T. Olmstead, History of 
Assyria (1924), p. 308. 

2 Sennacherib’s figures are much exaggerated without doubt. There 
were not forty-six walled towns in all Judah. For the exaggerations of 
Assyrian records, see A. T. Olmstead, op. cit., pp. 579 f. and 652 f. 


88 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


and Gaza, and that Hezekiah, overcome by fear and by 
the desertion of certain foreign mercenaries, paid heavy 
tribute, rendered homage, and suffered the loss of rich 
booty. 

The Hebrew records of the campaign against Jeru- 
salem are preserved in two recensions: (1) Isaiah, chap- 
‘ters 36-38, and (2) II Kings 18:13—20:21. The older of 
these two recensions is that in II Kings. They are alike 
in content except that the Kings recension has one episode 
described in II Kings 18:14-16 that does not appear in 
the Isaiah-narrative. The older narrative, apart from II 
Kings 18:14-16, however, is woven of two strands. The 
first of these includes II Kings 18:17—19: 9a, 36, 37; the 
second is represented by II Kings 19:9)-35. According 
to the first, Sennacherib sent his rabshakeh with a detach- 
ment of troops against Jerusalem. The rabshakeh hailed 
the city and sought to persuade the representatives of 
Hezekiah and the people at large to surrender, since 
resistance to the overwhelming might of Assyria was 
absurd. The generals of Hezekiah carried the message to 
him; whereupon he besought Yahweh in the Temple and 
sent word of his trouble to Isaiah. Isaiah assured him 
that Sennacherib would be called back to Assyria by a 
rumor of trouble there, and then he would be slain. The 
rabshakeh returned to his master whom he now found at- 
tacking Libnah. Sennacherib heard of the approach of 
Tirhaka, of Egypt, with his army, and so returned to 
Assyria, where he met death at the hands of his own sons. 

The second strand? covers the same course of events, 


t For a study of this campaign, see A. T. Olmstead, of. cit., pp. 297- 
315; cf. George A. Barton, Archaeology and the Bible (1916), pp. 372-77. 


2JI Kings 19:9b-35. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 89 


but differs in some details. The speech of the rabshakeh 
is now replaced by a royal letter from Sennacherib him- 
self, saying in substance the same thing as the speech. 
Hezekiah’s prayer in the Temple is now given in full. 
Isaiah sends word to Hezekiah at Yahweh’s bidding that 
his prayer is answered; and an extended speech of Isaiah’s 
is given in which Hezekiah is assured that no harm will 
come to him or his city. That very night the angel of Yah- 
weh smote thecampof theAssyrians, leaving 185,000 dead. 

In II Kings 18:14~-16, we are told that Hezekiah sent 
to Sennacherib at Lachish proffering his submission and 
declaring his readiness to pay whatever Sennacherib 
might demand. The penalty laid upon him was thirty 
talents of gold and three hundred talents of silver. Hez- 
ekiah emptied his treasury and stripped the gold decora- 
tions from the temple of Yahweh and sent the king of 
Assyria what he demanded. 

What are these narratives worth? The last one men- 
tioned at least agrees with the account of Sennacherib 
himself. Even the amount of gold surrendered by Hez- 
ekiah is the same in the Assyrian and the Hebrew narra- 
tives. Sennacherib has magnified the silver contribution 
undoubtedly. It is not at all likely that the Hebrew narra- 
tive would have invented such a humiliation of Hezekiah 
as this account involves. Sennacherib did receive tribute 
at Lachish from the kings of the region, as shown by his 
bas-relief. Everything thus supports the trustworthiness 
of this record in II Kings 18: 14-16." 

The account in IT Kings 19:9)-35 contains serious 

t This has been recognized generally since Stade said that II Kings 


18:13-16 was the only historical portion in the Sennacherib story of II 
Kings and Isaiah. 


go THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


difficulties. The prophecy of Isaiah in verses 21-31 is evi- 
dently an insertion in the story; verse 32 continues verse 
20 directly. The purpose of this narrative quite clearly is 
to magnify the prophet Isaiah, who becomes the central 
figure init. The figure “185,000” for the slain of the plague 
is beyond all possibility of fact. No such rate of mortality 
in so short a time and on so large a scale was ever known. 
The army of Sennacherib would hardly have attained 
such a size as this number involves.? Shalmaneser at Kar- 
kar claims to have defeated the joint army of twelve 
kings, numbering in all 71,900 men. The chances are that 
he magnified his foe to enhance his own glory. ‘The same 
king says that he crossed the Euphrates with 120,000 
troops. The feeding of an army of 185,000 on the scanty 
resources of Judah would have been a difficult problem 
for Sennacherib. The great king made no reference what- 
soever to any such disaster as is here described. The ap- 
palling character of it would have made complete silence 
impossible; indeed, such a disaster would probably have 
cost Sennacherib his throne; for he was not without en- 
emies. The story of Herodotus does not furnish much sup- 
port for this narrative. His horde of mice that gnawed 
the bowstrings of the Assyrians did not, in any case, kiil 
them; nor did they put the rest of the Assyrian equipment 
out of commission. The bowmen were not, so far as 
Assyrian records show, a preponderating element in the 
Assyrian armies.” 

The narrative in II Kings 18:17—19:9a is lacking in 
events, but well supplied with speeches. There is no rea- 


‘For the size of Assyrian armies, see J. Hunger, Der Alte Orient 
(1911), No. XII; B. Meissner, Babylonien und Assyrien (1920), pp. tot f.; 
and Menitius, Das assyrische Heer und sein Organization. 


2 See A. T. Olmstead, op. cit., pp. 83 and 111. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL QI 


son to doubt the sending of an embassy to demand the 
surrender of Jerusalem. It may seem unlikely that Hez- 
ekiah should have depended so much upon the advice of 
Isaiah, in view of the fact that he had spurned that ad- 
vice thus far in his international policy. The reference to 
Tirhaka at the end of the account creates trouble. Tir- 
haka did not take the throne of Egypt until 688 B.c., thir- 
teen years after the campaign of 701. He may have been 
in command of this expedition to relieve Jerusalem before 
he came to the throne, in which case this narrative makes 
him king prematurely. 

To sum up the situation: the difficulties involved in 
attaching the events of the Hebrew tradition to the cam- 
paign of 7o1r are so many and so great that scholars have 
shown a tendency to create a second and later campaign 
of Sennacherib’s against Jerusalem and Egypt.’ But sober 
criticism finds no sufficient evidence as yet for any such 
campaign.” So far as Jerusalem is concerned, it is difficult 
to see what need there could be of another expedition 
from Assyria after the drastic punishment inflicted on 
Judah in the campaign of 7o1. Judah must have been 
completely prostrated if the Assyrian record is at all true 
to fact. It would seem, indeed, that the disaster to Judah 
was so overwhelming that the Hebrew tradition felt the 
need of a corresponding blow to Assyria, and proceeded to 
create such a counterpoise for the sake of the honor of 
Yahweh. 


7H. Winckler, Altiesiamentliche Untersuchungen (1892), pp. 32 ff.; 
R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Texts (1912), p. 338; George A. Barton, Archae- 
ology and the Bible (1916), p. 377; I. Benzinger, Kurzer Hand-Kommeniar 
(1899), ad Joc. 

2See e.g., D. D. Luckenbill, The Anrals of Sennacherib (1924), pp. 
12 ff, 


g2 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


It now remains to see what the prophets did in the 
situation from 705-701 B.c. Isaiah did not hide his head 
at this time. He came to the fore with unflinching cour- 
age. When Merodach-baladan was working up his revolt 
against Sennacherib, he sent an embassy to Hezekiah to 
persuade him to join the movement.' The account of the 
visit is given in Isaiah, chapter 39 (=Kings 20:12~19). 
The visit was made under the guise of solicitude for the 
health of Hezekiah. But it did not escape Isaiah’s eye 
that the king showed the embassy all his resources. This 
narrative was written long after Isaiah’s day,? but it is 
historical in that it records an actual embassy to Hezekiah 
and in that it reflects correctly Isaiah’s attitude toward 
political and military attempts to throw off the Assyrian 
yoke. 

Isaiah was equally outspoken in his denunciation of 
the alliance with Egypt. In his judgment, such expecta- 
tions of aid are doomed to disappointment. Egypt is 
powerless to bring relief; she will but increase the punish- 
ment from Assyria. In Isa. 30:1-17 and 31:1-3 such 
sentiments as these are plainly uttered, e.g., 

The Egyptians will help in vain and to no purpose. 


Therefore have I proclaimed concerning this: 
“Rahab3 who is brought to an end.’’4 


t Merodach-baladan was king of Babylon from 721-710 B.C., when 
Sargon drove him out of Babylonia. But upon the death of Sargon, he 
again seized the throne of Babylon and held it for nine months, being 
finally dislodged by Sennacherib in 704. It is not clear at which of these 
periods the embassy was sent. 

2 See the commentaries of Duhm, Marti, and Wade on Isaiah, and cf. 
Benzinger and Kittel on Kings. 

3 For other references to ““Rahab” see Ps. 87:4; 89:10; cf. Isa. 51:9; 
Job 9:13; 26:12. 

4Isa. 30:7. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 93 


In contrast with the feverish policy of Hezekiah, who is 
seeking aid in every quarter but the right one, Isaiah re- 
minds him again of the necessity of faith in Yahweh, to 
which he had previously summoned Ahaz, viz., 
For thus did the Lord Yahweh, the holy one of Jsrael, say: 
“Through return and rest you will be delivered; 
“Through quietude and confidence will your might be.” 
But you were not willing. 
And so you said, ‘‘No! 
Upon horses we will flee.” 
Therefore you shall flee. 
“And upon racers we will ride”; therefore your pursuers shall 
be swift. 
You will flee—a thousand at the battle-cry of five, 
Until if any of you survive, you will be like the staff on the 
top of the mountain, 
And like the banner on the hill.” 
Apparently, Isaiah’s messages in connection with Sen- 
nacherib’s invasion were purely denunciatory. He saw no 
other way than submission to Assyria as Yahweh’s or- 
dained ruler of the world. All attempts to find deliverance 
through alliance with other nations were doomed to fail- 
ure. It was Hezekiah’s duty to remain subject to Sen- 
nacherib. Any contrary policy would bring ruin. The sins 
of Judah were so venal and blatant that deliverance from 
punishment was out of the question; repentant endurance 
of chastisement was the necessary program for Hezekiah. 
Isaiah had come to the conviction by the time of the in- 
vasion of Sennacherib that the people of Judah were 
blinded by their passion for freedom to the realities of life 
and were determined to rush on madly, not knowing 
that they were headed for destruction. Their spiritual 
guides were blind leaders of the blind. 
t Isa. 30:15-17. 


04 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Astonish yourselves and be astounded! 

Blind yourselves, and be blind! 

They are drunk; but it is not wine; 

They stagger, but it is not liquor. 

For Yahweh has poured out upon you a spirit of sound sleep; 

And he has closed your eyes—the prophets; 

And your leaders—the seers—he has blindfolded. 

When the advance of Egypt seemed to promise relief, 
in that it distracted Sennacherib’s attention and perhaps 
necessitated some withdrawal of troops from Jerusalem, 
the city went wild with joy. But Isaiah’s opinion of the 
outcome was not changed. In the midst of the chorus of 
joy and praise, he uttered a piercing and discordant note. 
In 22:1-4 he portrays the destruction that he sees cer- 
tainly in store for Jerusalem and Judah. He describes the 
vain efforts toward the defense of the city, and contrasts 
these with the failure to turn to the God of hosts in 
penitence and fear. A spirit of reckless revelry has taken 
the place that belonged to sorrow for sin. 

“Eat and drink; though tomorrow we die.” 

But Yahweh of Hosts has revealed himself in my ears: 

“This guilt of yours will not be expiated until you die,” 

Says the Lord Yahweh of Hosts.’’? 

The underlying causes for the chastisement which 
Judah and Jerusalem were undergoing are listed in Isa. 
1:2-17, 21-23. After first charging Judah with base in- 
gratitude and disloyalty toward Yahweh, the prophet 
proceeds to describe the condition of Jerusalem as it was 
when Hezekiah was “‘shut up like a caged bird” in his 
own capital. He then protests against the elaborate cultus 
of his day which the people were substituting for the 
practice of justice and righteousness. Isaiah did not op- 


t Isa. 29:9, I0. alsa.22°13 \rA: 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 95 


pose ritual per se; he was but objecting to the exclusive 
places it occupied in the minds of the people; they were 
making ritual and religion synonymous terms. He would 
enrich religion by giving a larger place to justice and 
righteousness as requirements of Yahweh. 


When you spread forth your hands, 
I will hide my eyes from you. 

Yea, when you multiply prayers, 

I will not hear. 

Your hands are filled with blood. 
Wash yourselves; purify yourselves. 
Put away the wickedness of your deeds 
From before my eyes. 

Cease to do evil; 

Learn to do good. 

Seek justice; 

Relieve the oppressed, 

Give justice to the fatherless; 

Plead the cause of the widow. 


The deflection of Judah and Jerusalem from the right way 
and their disloyalty to the high ideals of a true Yahweh 
worship, Isaiah pictures in the following vivid terms: 


Alas, that she has become a harlot,—the faithful city, 

That was full of justice, righteousness used to dwell in her, 
But now—murderers! 

Thy silver has become slag; 

Thy liquor is diluted? with water. 

Thy rulers are unruly and companions of thieves; 

Everyone loves a bribe and pursues after rewards; 

To the fatherless they do not grant justice, 

Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.3 


This kind of message was poor comfort in troublous 
times. If spoken in connection with the siege of Sen- 


tJsa. 1: 15-17. 2 Literally, “‘circumcised.” ssa. 1: 21-23. 


96 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


nacherib or at any other critical time, the patience of the 
populace and the government was in striking contrast to 
the state of mind in every country during the world-war. 
We had no patience with criticism; we called it disloyalty. 
Hezekiah and his contemporaries must be given credit for 
a breadth of mind and tolerance of spirit that arouse won- 
der. Or was it that the prophets were privileged char- 
acters and had enjoyed liberty of speech so long that no 
one dreamed of denying it to them in a time of crisis? 
They were under the protection of Yahweh, and it was 
dangerous to do violence to their persons. The condition 
of the people and country to which Isaiah was preaching 
such messages is thus pictured by him: 

The whole head is sick, 

And the whole heart faint. 

From the sole of the foot to the head, 

There is no soundness within,— 

But bruises, blows, and bleeding wounds; 

They have not been pressed out, nor bound up, 

Nor have they been softened with oil. 

Your land is laid waste, 

Your cities are burned with fire; 

Your land—aliens are consuming it in your presence, 

And it is a waste, like the overthrow of Sodom,! 

And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, 

Like a lodge in a cucumber patch, like a watchman’s tower. 


“Tf Yahweh of Hosts had not left us a remnant, though small, 
We had been like Sodom, we had resembled Gomorrah.’ 


The only known situation to which these words closely 
apply was the invasion of 7o1 B.c. Isaiah’s sympathy with 
his country did not blind his eyes to its moral defects. In- 


™ Hebrew text has “strangers”; probably an error. 
2 Isa, 135-9. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 97 


deed, the prophetic theory of life would make him more 
than ever sure of the sinfulness of his people; for that 
identified prosperity with piety and political and military 
reverses were evidence of sin. No louder testimony to 
the sinfulness of Judah could be imagined than the fear- 
ful devastation wrought by Sennacherib’s army. Sen- 
nacherib was the agent of Yahweh’s wrath against his 
wicked people, and the blows of Assyria were loud calls 
to national repentance and atonement. 

Contemporary with Isaiah and taking the same gen- 
eral attitude toward Jerusalem was the prophet Micah." 
The general period of Micah’s activity is attested by Jer. 
26:18 f. as lying within the reign of Hezekiah. It has been 
claimed that Micah must have prophesied before 721 B.c., 
because of his prophecy against Samaria in 1:5, 6. But 
Samaria was not destroyed in 721 B.c., nor did it cease to 
be a trouble to Assyria from that time on. Indeed, in 720 
B.C. Samaria as member of an anti-Assyrian coalition was 
in revolt against Sargon, and she was an occasion of solici- 
tude to Assyria for years after that.? As long as Samaria 
was standing and was a possible source of trouble to the 
western states in general and to Judah in particular, it 
was quite in harmony with the custom of the prophets 
that Micah should have been prophesying her destruc- 
tion. Of the seven chapters composing the Book of Micah, 
only the first three were the product of his own mind and 
heart. Even in these, there is found some later material, 


* See J. M. Powis Smith, Book of Micah, “International Critical Com- 
mentary,” 1911); T. K. Cheyne, Cambridge Bible (1895); S. R. Driver, 
Century Bible (1906); G. A. Smith, Book of the Twelve (1896), Vol. I; W. 
Nowack, Die kleinen Propheten (3d ed., 1922); Marti, Dodekapropheton 
(1904); E. Sellin, Das Zwélfprophetenbuch (1922). 

2See Micah (“International Critical Commentary,” 1911), p. 20. 


98 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


viz., 1:7, 11 and 2:12, 13.' In chapters 4-7, some few 
verses may have originated in Micah’s time, viz., 4:14; 
5:9-12; 6:9-16; and 7:1-6.? Since the origin of these 
passages is wholly uncertain and since they add little 
that is new to chapters 1-3, they will be left out of con- 
sideration here. 

Micah was a product of the countryside, whereas Isa- 
iah was a child of the town. Micah’s home was at the edge 
of the foothills, on the border of the Shephelah, the low- 
lying maritime plain. He had the clear vision of the man 
used to open spaces and to contemplation of the far- 
reaching ocean. His sympathies were those of the farm- 
er. His soul burned with anger against the rich oppressors 
of the great city. He lashed the unscrupulous exploiters 
of their fellow-men with words that burned. He felt the 
sufferings and sorrows of the poor. 

His message, starting with announcement of destruc- 
tion upon Samaria and chastisement of Jerusalem, pictures 
the progress of a conquering foe from city to city, who 
carries the peoples into captivity (chap. 1). He then de- 
scribes the social wrongs that have stirred the wrath of 
Yahweh against this people. The rich have expropriated 
the lands of the poor; they have made women and chil- 
dren homeless; and they have refused to listen to the 
words of the true prophets, preferring preachers like- 
minded with themselves. Therefore, destruction of a ter- 
rible sort is ordained for them (chap. 2). He then charges 
the leaders with gross abuse of their powers for the pur- 


t For the considerations weighing against these, see my Commentary, 
ad loc. 

2 For the history of the criticism of chaps. 4-7, see Micah (“Inter- 
national Critical Commentary,” 1911), pp. 9-16. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 99 


pose of their own enrichment in that they have robbed 
the poor and treated the weak with violence: 


Hear now, you heads of Jacob, 

And rulers of the house of Israel: 

Is it not your place to know justice, 
You who hate good and love evil? 


But they eat the flesh of my people, 

And their skin they strip off from upon them; 
And they lay bare their bones and break them up, 
Like meat in the pot, and flesh within the caldron. 


Then will they cry unto Yahweh, 

And he will not answer them; 

But will hide his face from them, 

Inasmuch as they have made evil their deeds. 


Another class of influential people then receives 
Micah’s attention, viz., the officially approved prophets. 
He exposes their methods and motives and sets them in 
sharp contrast with himself. 


Thus says Yahweh 

Regarding the prophets who lead my people astray, 
Who when they bite with their teeth preach prosperity; 
But as for him who puts not into their mouths— 
Against him they declare war. 


Therefore it will be night for you, without vision, 
And darkness for you without divination. 

Verily, the sun will set upon those prophets, 

And the day will become dark over them. 


And the seers will be ashamed, 

And the diviners will blush, 

And they will cover the upper lip, all of them, 
Because there is no answer from God. 


t Mic. 3:1-4. 


I0O THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


But I, indeed, am full of power, 

And justice and strength, 

To declare to Jacob his transgression, 
And to Israel his sin.? 


The closing oracle groups the three great classes of 
leaders together—the princes, priests, and prophets. It 
makes them jointly responsible for the coming disaster, 
and foretells the fall of Jerusalem in sledge-hammer 
phrases. 


Hear this, now, you heads of the house of Jacob, 
And rulers of the house of Israel; 

Who abhor justice, 

And pervert all that is right; 

Who build Zion with blood, 

And Jerusalem with iniquity. 


Her chiefs judge for a bribe, 

And her priests give oracles for hire, 

And her prophets divine for money; 

Yet they lean upon Yahweh, saying, 
“Ts not Yahweh in the midst of us? 

No evil can befall us.” 


Therefore, because of you, 

Zion will be ploughed as a field, 

And Jerusalem will become ruins, 

And the mountain of the house a high place in a forest.? 


Isaiah and Micah alike seem to have anticipated the 
downfall of Jerusalem; and the consequent end of Judah’s 
independent nationality. How could they think of the 


™ Mic, 3:5-8. 2 Mic. 3:9-12. 

3 Budde, in an article on “Isaiah” in the Zeitschrift fiir die alttestament- 
liche Wissenschaft, XLI (1923), 154-203, makes much of the claim that 
Isaiah never definitely foretold the fall of Jerusalem. This claim lays un- 
due stress on such fine distinctions as “Jerusalem will stwmble and Judah 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL IOI 


religion of Yahweh continuing after his nation had ceased 
to be? It is clear that neither of these prophets ever for 
a moment thought of Yahweh as passing out of existence 
along with his nation. But a God with no worshipers was 
inconceivable to the Hebrew mind. How, then, could 
Yahweh’s worship be continued? Two elements enter 
into the answer to this question. Micah, as a rustic, evi- 
dently did not identify the perpetuity of the nation with 
the continuous existence of Jerusalem. Indeed, the great 
city was to him little more than a cesspool of iniquity. 
He thought of the real Judah as represented by the simple 
folk of the countryside. The city must be destroyed, but 
the nation will continue through the solid and substantial 
people from the country districts. He does not work out 
the details of a new national organization on such a basis, 
but his hopes centered in the character of such people as 
he had learned to know by close observation of the simple 
home life of the farming class. A second fact familiar to 
both Micah and Isaiah was the object-lesson constantly 
before their eyes, across the northern border of Judah. 
For twenty years Israel had ceased to be an independent 
government. In 721 B.c., Samaria had been captured by 
Sargon and a percentage of the population carried into 
exile. Since that time Northern Israel had been an As- 
syrian province. But the religion of Yahweh had not gone 
out of existence there along with the government. The 
great mass of the population had remained at home. They 


will fall”’ (Isa. 3:8). It exempts Jerusalem from such general statements 
as “cities be laid waste without an inhabitant” (Isa. 6:11). It fails to do 
justice to the full force of Isa. 30:15-17. A city as the sole survivor in a 
deserted and desolate country would be in a sorry state. Micah the Mo- 
rashtite did not shrink from announcing the fall of the city at the time of 
Sennacherib’s invasion. Was Isaiah less courageous? 


102 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


had gone on for two decades worshiping Yahweh at the 
local shrines in very much the same way as before the fall 
of the capital. It was a more or less corrupt worship, per- 
haps, but it had always been so. In any case, it was Yah- 
weh-worship, and it remained down to a much later time, 
and kept the books of the Pentateuch as its Scripture. In 
the light of that experience, Isaiah and Micah could think 
of Yahweh’s worship as going on even after the cessation 
of Judah’s sovereignty. The official religion might be 
given to some Assyrian god, but the mass of the faithful 
Jews would remain loyal to Yahweh through all trials. 
Isaiah seems to have had something of this sort in mind 
in Isa. 8: 16-18. 

The Book of Isaiah is full of glowing messianic proph- 
ecies. Are these all later additions to his oracles? Was 
there no messianic hope in the eighth century B.c.? The 
utterance of Amos (5:18) shows that there was such a 
hope in the air in that age. But Amos took that hope and 
converted it into a threat of punishment and catastrophe. 
That hope was a part of the eschatology of the masses 
during this period. Hosea had no sure word of hope for 
the north (Hos. 2:11-13; 9:12-17; 13:12-16'). Isaiah’s 
Shear-yesheb prophecy, whether applying to Israel or 
Judah, was primarily a message of punishment. The con- 
tent of Isaiah’s call as recorded in chapter 6 excludes all 
possibility of hope. “If there be even a tenth in it, it shall 
again be eaten up.”’ Leaving aside the detailed discussion 


™ Hos. 13:14 is best rendered interrogatively, viz.: 
“Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? 
Shall I redeem them from death? 
O death! Where are thy plagues? 
O grave! Where is thy destruction? 
Repentance is hid from my eyes.” 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 103 


of the individual messianic prophecies in Isaiah, attention 
is called here to some general considerations on the subject. 

The general charge against the many messianic utter- 
ances placed upon Isaiah’s lips is of threefold character: 
(1) How are we to explain the sudden rise and appearance 
of messianism in Isaiah? The popular thought was prob- 
ably full of that sort of hope at all times; but was Isaiah 
at all in sympathy with that popular thought? Was he 
not an idealist and consequently at all times in a critical 
and hostile temper toward the conventional attitudes of 
his time in both the religious and the social areas? (2) 
Is not the presence of this messianic material inexplicable 
upon the lips of Isaiah? His message was so clearly domi- 
nated by the thought of disastrous punishment that it is 
dificult to imagine him as a spokesman of an opposite 
type of thought. It is hard to smile on one side of the 
face and at the same time cry upon the other; but Isaiah 
is in just that state of mind according to the make-up of 
the Book of Isaiah as it now stands. Moreover, there is no 
connecting link between the two types of thought. The 
passage from one to the other is abrupt and unmediated. 
Indeed, it has been maintained with force that the present 
messianic utterances are inserted with regularity after 
each passage of threat and denunciation to serve as anti- 
dotes. These passages lack all formal connection with 
their contexts, and they are equally defective in agreement 
with the thought of the undisputed genuine portions of 
Tsaiah. Again, how can we explain the hostility toward 
Isaiah on the part of the people,’ if he preached such en- 
couraging messages as are attributed to him in connection 
with Sennacherib’s invasion and in chapters 9, 11, 32, and 


t See, e.g., Isa. 30:9-11. 


104 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


35? (3) If Isaiah and Micah preached a message of com- 
fort, it is strange that the contemporaries of Jeremiah 
should have remembered Micah’s threat against Jeru- 
salem' and have forgotten everything else. Not only so, 
but Jeremiah himself in his contest with Hananiah the 
prophet in the Temple court? met Hananiah’s confident 
message of deliverance and hope with a challenge to read 
the history of prophecy and see if it was not true that all 
the preceding prophets had preached “‘of war, and of evil, 
and of pestilence,” and not one of them had been a proph- 
et of prosperity. Jeremiah would never have made such a 
challenge if the prophecies of Isaiah had been known to be 
largely devoted to messianic hopes; nor would Hananiah 
have missed such a glorious chance to humiliate and con- 
found him if it had been common knowledge that the 
great Isaiah was a prophet of good news. Jeremiah’s chal- 
lenge was not taken up, because the facts were on his side. 

If we ask how the messianic oracles came to be placed 
in these early prophetic books, where they did not origi- 
nally belong, we may remind ourselves of a similar pro- 
cedure in the religion of ancient Greece. The Greek ora- 
cles at the time of the Persian invasions of Greece were 
at first quite friendly toward the Persians, anticipating 
the success of the Persians and preparing for kindly treat- 
ment at their hands. But things went badly with the 
Persians, and they suffered defeat and had to withdraw. 
Thereupon the oracles changed their attitude and sought 
in every way to give a new interpretation to their earlier 
utterances. The same motive, in part, operated here in 
the minds of later editors. But for the most part, the mo- 
tive of the additions was twofold. There was the desire to 


™ Jer 26:18. 2 Jer. 28: 5-0. 


THE ASSYRIAN PERIL 105 


stimulate the faith and hope of suffering Judah so that the 
religious life of Judah might survive the successive shocks 
it encountered; and perhaps this was the greatest incen- 
tive to these additions. There was also the desire to 
magnify the glory of Yahweh; and this was done by mak- 
ing him reveal to his prophets long in advance the course 
of events as it actually proceeded. Furthermore, if Yah- 
weh could be shown to have foretold this course of events, 
then it followed that the promises of glory supposedly 
made at the same time and renewed in later times would 
likewise be fulfilled. The messianic prophecies, no matter 
when made, were the expression of an exuberant faith and 
an undying hope.’ 

1 Cf. J. M. Powis Smith, ‘Isaiah and the Future,” American Journal 
of Semitic Languages and Literatures, XL (1924), 252-58. 


CHAPTER VII 
THE PROPHETS AND THE SCYTHIANS 


The reigns of Manasseh and Amon covered a period 
of reaction. The devastation wrought by Sennacherib had 
weakened and depressed Judah to a very low level of vi- 
tality. Not only so, but under Esarhaddon and Ashur- 
banipal, the successors of Sennacherib, Assyria’s power 
had been carried down into Egypt and Thebes had fallen 
before it (661 B.c.). Judah had continued under the bur- 
den of a heavy tribute to Assyria.‘ Esarhaddon made 
three campaigns into Egypt before his death in 668 B.c., 
and brought the entire west land into complete subjec- 
tion. Ashurbanipal also was three times in the west and 
was equally successful. It goes without saying that these 
kings saw to it that Judah kept up her payments of trib- 
ute regularly.” 

Ashurbanipal died about 627 B.c. Even before his 
death there were not wanting signs of deterioration and 
decrepitude in the Assyrian Empire; and after his death, 
the descent of the great Empire into chaos and death was 
very rapid. Under these circumstances, it is not surpris- 
ing to read in Herodotus of a great invasion of Scythians 
sweeping down from the north over the western portions 
of the territory of Assyria: 


«See R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature (1901), pp. 
85 f. and 96 f., for records of payments both to Esarhaddon and Ashur- 
banipal. 

2 For the political situation in Western Asia, see J. M. Powis Smith, 
Zephaniah (‘International Critical Commentary,” 1911), pp. 156-65. 


106 


THE PROPHETS AND THE SCYTHIANS 107 


On the death of Phraortes his son Cyaxares ascended the 
throne. Of him it is reported that he was still more warlike than 
any of his ancestors, and that he was the first who gave organiza- 
tion to an Asiatic army, dividing the troops into companies, and 
forming distinct bodies of the spearmen, the archers, and the cav- 
alry, who before his time had been mingled in one mass, and con- 
fused together. He it was who fought against the Lydians on the 
occasion when the day was changed suddenly into night, and who 
brought under his dominion the whole of Asia beyond the Halys. 
This prince, collecting together all the nations which owned his 
sway, marched against Nineveh, resolved to avenge his father, and 
cherishing a hope that he might succeed in taking the town. A 
battle was fought, in which the Assyrians suffered a defeat, and 
Cyaxares had already begun the siege of the place, when a numer- 
ous horde of Scythians under their king Madyes, son of Protothyes, 
burst into Asia in pursuit of the Cimmerians, whom they had 
driven out of Europe, and entered the Median territory..... The 
Scythians, having thus invaded Media, were opposed by the Medes, 
who gave them battle, but being defeated, lost their empire. The 
Scythians became masters of Asia. 

After this they marched forward with the design of invading 
Egypt. When they reached Palestine, however, Psammetichus the 
Egyptian king met them with gifts and prayers, and prevailed on 
them to advance no farther. On their return, passing through 
Ascalon, a city of Syria, the greater part of them went their way 
without doing any damage; but some few who remained behind 
pillaged the temple of celestial Venus. .... 

The dominion of the Scythians over Asia lasted twenty-eight 
years, during which time their insolence and oppression spread 
ruin on every side. For besides the regular tribute, they exacted 
from the several nations additional imposts, which they fixed at 
pleasure; and further, they scoured the country and plundered every 
one and whatever they could.? 


This flood of destruction sweeping down upon the 
Mediterranean coast-lands naturally spread terror in 
every direction.. The neighboring peoples were panic 


t Herodotus History i. 103-6; translation by George Rawlinson. 


108 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


stricken. To this general state of fear, Judah would not 
be anexception. The tidings of the Scythians would outrun 
their progress; and for weeks, perhaps months, in advance 
the population would be living in dread. Under these con- 
ditions, two prophets came forward as interpreters of the 
religious meaning of the situation, viz., Zephaniah and 
Jeremiah. It was a time of political and spiritual crisis, 
and they sprang to the task of opening the eyes of the 
people to its significance; as prophets they could not keep 
silent. The situation itself constituted their call. 

Zephaniah seems to have been a citizen of Jerusalem, 
if we may so judge from the fact of his knowledge of the 
topography of that city’ and of the religious and social 
situation therein, and the further fact that he seems to 
speak of himself as living in Jerusalem in 1:4. He may 
also have been connected with the royal family by blood, 
as seems to be implied by the superscription when it 
names Hezekiah as the father of Zephaniah’s grandfather. 
He lacks that sense of intimate fellowship with the poor 
that belongs naturally to a poor man. His point of view 
is rather that of the aristocrat. 

Zephaniah looked upon the coming Scythian invasion 
of Palestine as the advance guard of the great Day of 
Yahweh. This awful Day was to bring destruction sweep- 
ing over the entire civilized world from north to south. 
Assyria, the Canaanitish nations, Judah, Egypt, and 
Ethiopia, were all to meet their doom. The terrors of 
that great and terrible Day dominated the prophet’s mind: 
Near at hand is Yahweh’s great day, near and speeding fast; 


Near at hand is Yahweh’s bitter day, hastening faster than a 
watrior. 


EZEDR 12 TONEL, 


THE PROPHETS AND THE SCYTHIANS 10g 


A day of wrath is that day; a day of distress and gloom; 

A day of clouds and eclipse; a day of the trumpet and battle-cry, 

Against the fortified cities and against the high towers. 

And I shall press hard upon mankind and they will walk like blind 
men, because they have sinned against me; 

And their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like 
dung. 

Neither their silver nor their gold can deliver them; 

For a complete destruction, yea, a fearful one, will Yahweh make 
of all the inhabitants of the land.? 


The sins of Judah denounced by Zephaniah are made 
responsible for the coming destruction. At the forefront 
of the line of offenses stand sins against Yahweh himself. 
These include the worship of the Baalim, sun-worship, 
idolatry, the worship of foreign gods, and utter apostasy 
from Yahweh. The picture here given of the religious 
situation accords fully with what we are told in Kings 
of the period of reaction under Manasseh and Amon. 
This condition, of course, persisted during the minority 
of Josiah, and was probably not cleaned up until the 
time of the Deuteronomic reform in Josiah’s eighteenth 
year (621 B.c.). To these sins against God, Zephaniah 
adds social injustice of the rich, perversion of right 
by the judges, the importation of foreign styles of dress, 
the deceit and lying of the prophets, the irreligion of the 
priests, and the moral atheism of those who said that it 
was of no use to worship Yahweh since he exercised no 
interest in nor influence upon human affairs. 

Zephaniah brought nothing new to the solution of the 
problems of his day. He was but echoing the message of 
his predecessors. He did not put into that message the 


™ Vs. 18) is omitted here as a probable gloss; see Commentary, ad loc. 
2Zeph. 1:14-18. 


IIO THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


moral idealism and passion that had characterized Amos 
and Isaiah. He is principally concerned with the descrip- 
tion of a certain fiery form of judgment that he sees about 
to descend upon the world in general and his own nation 
in particular. He has nothing constructive to contribute 
to the upbuilding of his nation’s life. He is a destructive 
critic pure and simple. He is not stirred by any profound 
sympathy for the peoples about to be destroyed, nor even 
for his own doomed nation. He does not stress the ethical 
element in the coming judgment; it is rather a punish- 
ment sent by Yahweh upon a wicked world that does not 
recognize his power. The preaching of Zephaniah must 
have helped prepare the soil of Judah for the great change 
wrought by the Deuteronomic reform. But so far as any 
records go, Zephaniah was little more than a voice crying 
in the wilderness: ‘‘Prepare for the day of Yahweh.’ 
Called forth apparently by the same crisis in his peo- 
ple’s history, the prophet Jeremiah began his work.? This 
background of the initial period of his preaching shines 
through the content of Jeremiah’s call to the prophetic 
office. Jeremiah felt that he was foreordained to the task 
of prophet, but he shrank from it. That he, a mere lad, 
should presume to rebuke nations seemed to him unfit- 
ting. But he was assured that the authority of Yahweh’s 
commission. and sustaining presence would more than 
compensate for his youth. If it seems strange to us that 
Jeremiah should feel himself concerned with the fate of 


* For a more detailed treatment of Zephaniah, see J. M. Powis Smith, 
Zephaniah (“International Critical Commentary,” rorr). 

2See Jer. 1:2. The best English books on Jeremiah are J. Skinner, 
Prophecy and Religion (1923); A. S. Peake, Jeremiah (New Century Bible, 
1910); L. E. Binns, Jeremiah (“Westminster Commentary,” 1919); G. 
Adam Smith, Jeremiah (1924). 


THE PROPHETS AND THE SCYTHIANS Tid 


nations, let us remember not only that Zephaniah, his 
contemporary, likewise dealt with the fate of Assyria and 
Ethiopia, but also that the affairs of Judah in these closing 
years of her national history were closely intertwined with 
the course of affairs in Western Asia and Egypt. If Jer- 
emiah knew anything of the recent history of his nation, 
he must have known of the invasions of the west and of 
Egypt by Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal. 
That knowledge would open his eyes to the fact that the 
future of Judah was part and parcel of the future of West- 
ern Asia as a whole. 

Two additional visions seem to have been involved in 
the call experience of Jeremiah. In one he saw the branch 
of an almond tree and was assured that this was a symbol 
of Yahweh’s solicitude for the fulfilment of his predic- 
tions.t This was an assurance to the prophet that he 
might safely trust Yahweh to see to it that the course of 
history should conform to Jeremiah’s predictions. The 
second vision? presents to the eye of the prophet a boiling 
pot, with its “face” turned southward.? The meaning is 
that just as the boiling contents of the pot pour out upon 
the south, so is Yahweh going to stir up the peoples of 
the north and send them down south, carrying fire and 
sword even up to the gates of Jerusalem. This destruction 

1 Jer. 1:11, 12. The point of this vision escapes the English reader. 
The words for “almond tree” (shdéked) and ‘‘watch over’ (shéked) are 


almost identical in form and sound, so that the Hebrew text furnishes a 
play on words. 

a 16r. F253-10, 

3 The Hebrew phrase in vs. 13 is difficult “from the north.” It may 
be noted, however that the form of the word “north” used here is used 
again in vs. 15, where it has not the customary sense of direction or mo- 
tion toward some point. If the ending of ‘‘north” be likewise ignored in 
vs. 13, the sense is clear enough. 


I12 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


is sent as a punishment for the wickedness of Judah in 
that people have worshiped other gods than Yahweh and 
have turned aside to idol worship. Jeremiah is urged to 


speak this message, harsh though it be, in its entirety to ~ 


Judah and is assured that Yahweh’s support will sustain 
him against all the hostility of his fellow-countrymen. It 
would seem that these visions reflect a more or less ex- 
tended period of hesitation and fear on the part of Jere- 
miah before he could make up his mind to undertake so 
terrible a mission. The prophet conceives of his task in 
much the same terms as his contemporary Zephaniah had 
done. The present text of verse ro contains the words “to 
build and to plant” as a part of the call. But these words 
are lacking in the Alexandrine Codex of the Septuagint. 
They are not in keeping with Jer. 28:8, 9, and they do 
not easily lend themselves to the situation when the 
threatening Scythian flood was likely to sweep everything 
before it. The probability is that in his initial experience 
Jeremiah saw nothing but an overwhelming disaster im- 
pending upon his world. 

The oracles uttered by Jeremiah prior to and under 
the immediate influence of the Scythian invasion are con- 
tained in Jeremiah, chapters 1-6. These chapters were 
edited later in Jeremiah’s career,’ and also supplemented 
by later hands. Thus they doubtless lost some of the 
marks of their earlier origin and were made to apply more 
closely to the events of the years after the Scythian in- 
vasion had passed into history. The content of the early 
preaching of Jeremiah was very much like that of Zeph- 
aniah. The sins of Judah were held responsible by him for 
the coming of the threatened desolation. Those sins were 

t See Jer. 36:18, 28. 


THE PROPHETS AND THE SCYTHIANS 113 


apostasy from Yahweh and ingratitude for all his bles- 
sings. Jeremiah put this in very vivid and forceful terms: 

Has a nation changed gods, though they are not gods? 

Yet my people has changed its glory for what is useless! 

Be amazed, O heavens, at this, and be shocked beyond words! 

It is Yahweh’s oracle. 

For my people have wrought two evils; 

They have forsaken me, a fountain of living waters, 

To hew out for themselves cisterns, 

Broken cisterns which hold no water.? 


These gods after whom Judah went astray were, in 
part at least, her old loves, the Baalim. They were wor- 
shiped in the form of images of wood and stone; and they 
were great in numbers: 


For as many in number as your cities are your gods, O Judah? 


The people doubtless saw no inconsistency in worshiping 
local gods alongside of Yahweh, the national God. But 
Jeremiah brought the wide departure from the worship 
of Yahweh clearly into view by pointing to their worship 
in the valley,? which in all probability was some reaction- 
ary cult like the sacrifice of infants or some other pagan 
practice continuing from the days of Manasseh and 
Amon. This recognition and cultivation of non-Hebraic 
religious practices was part and parcel of the political 
policy denounced by Jeremiah. He protested against any 
dealings with Assyria or Egypt as worse than futile (Jer. 
2:18, 36). The policy of seeking support from one of the 
great powers against aggression by the other had long 
been adopted in Judah, and had been obnoxious to all the 
prophets. The reason for that was twofold. Such a policy 
grew out of a lack of an adequate faith in Yahweh and re- 


t Jer. 2: 1I—13. 2 Jer. 2:28. 3 Jer... 2:23. 


ITA THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


flected unfavorably upon Yahweh. The prophets believed 
that Yahweh was able to take care of all the interests of 
his people and needed no extraneous support. Not only so, 
but policies of alliance with other nations involved more 
or less formal and official recognition of the gods of the 
allied peoples. This was naturally offensive in the highest 
degree to every genuine Yahweh prophet. Jeremiah con- 
ceived of the people when disaster should befall them as 
waking up to their iniquity and as making a plea to Yah- 
weh for forgiveness. But with their facile and shallow 
penitence he contrasted the true penitence that Yahweh 
desired: 


But thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: 
“Plough up for yourselves new ground, 

And do not sow among thorns. 

Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and put away the foreskin 
of your hearts, 

O men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem, 

Lest my wrath go forth like fire and burn, 

And there be no one to extinguish it, because of the wickedness 
of your deeds.’ 


In chapters 4-6 of Jeremiah are found the Scythian 
songs. These were evidently called forth by the close 
proximity of the peril which Jeremiah foresaw. The 
preaching of this destruction brought agony to Jeremiah’s 
spirit. This was what he had shrunk from when he felt 
the urge to become a prophet. Now his whole soul revolt- 
ed from the burden of woe that he had to put upon his 
people’s hearts.?, He seems to have left his native place, 
Anathoth, and to have taken up residence in Jerusalem 
during the period of the Scythian peril. The fifth and 


1 Jer. 3:19—4:4. Se CriAt TO. eon: 


THE PROPHETS AND THE SCYTHIANS II5 


sixth chapters were apparently spoken in the capital city. 
The danger seems to have come nearer in the course of 
these songs. In 4:5, 6, the summons goes forth to flee into 
the strong cities and to take refuge in Jerusalem; in 6:1 f. 
the inhabitants of Jerusalem itself are called upon to flee. 
The songs are largely concerned with the description of 
the approaching enemy and of the destruction which he 
is to commit on all sides: 


Behold, a people is coming from the north country, 

And a great nation is aroused from the ends of the earth. 

They lay hold of the bow and spear; 

Cruel are they and show no mercy. 

The sound of them is like the roar of the sea and upon horses 
they ride, 

Arrayed, like a man, for battle against thee, O daughter of Zion. 

We have heard the report of him; our hands relax. 

Pain has seized us, anguish like that of a woman in travail. 

Do not go forth to the field, and do not walk in the road; 

For there is the sword of the foe, terror on every hand. 

O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, and bestrew yourself 
with dust; 

Make you lamentation as for an only son, bitter mourning; 

For suddenly will the destroyer come upon us.? 


The sins that have brought on this disaster are enumer- 
atedeines 1-6, 23-31. and in’6:13-17. In the prophet’s 
judgment the corruption of the people was widespread 
and universal; there was not a decent man in Jerusalem. 
They were all guilty of perversion of justice, false swear- 
ing or perjury, the worship of foreign gods, and apparent- 
ly of gross sensuality. Whether the language of 5:7 and 8 
refers to actual sexual adultery and the like is not wholly 
clear; it may be that the prophet is likening the loyalty 


* Jer. 6:22-26. 


116 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


of the people divided between Yahweh and the other gods 
to the conduct of men who are disloyal to their wives. 
However, the foreign-cultus practices were not free from 
such literal sins against the moral order as are here de- 
nounced; and the charge of apostasy from Yahweh would 
also involve the sin of sexual promiscuity. 

In addition to the cultus irregularities, the rich men 
are upbraided for the illegal and unrighteous ways in 
which they have gained their wealth: 

For rascals are found among my people, 

As a cage is full of birds, so their houses are full of graft; 

So they become great and wax rich. 

They are fat; they plan bad things.? 

They do not justly judge the case of the fatherless, but they 
prosper, 

And justice to the needy they do not decree.3 

The sin of covetousness is charged against all classes, 
rich and poor. The religious leaders are blamed for double 
dealing and for a too easy solution of national problems. 
They are all eager for new and untrodden ways and stub- 
bornly refuse to abide by the old standards. Therefore 
their ritual of sacrifice cannot be accepted by Yahweh 
and punishment is inevitable. 

As a matter of fact, the Scythian invasion passed 
away and left the world-order essentially unchanged. It 
was simply a plundering raid by a horde of nomads. It 
probably inflicted relatively little damage on Judah and 
Jerusalem, nestling in their protective hills. It certainly 
did not lay Jerusalem in the dust. The eyes of the Scyth- 


™ The text here is untranslatable. 
2 The text here is bad; see the commentaries. 
3 Jer. 5: 26-28. 


THE PROPHETS AND THE SCYTHIANS I17 


ians were fixed on bigger game. The terrible pictures of 
destruction imagined by Zephaniah and Jeremiah were 
not realized. They were in the eyes of their contempo- 
raries branded as false prophets. Of Zephaniah’s history 
after the completion of his prophetic work, nothing is 
known. But Jeremiah lived to prophesy another day. 
The failure of the Scythians to measure up to Jeremiah’s 
expectations was a heavy blow to him. It cost him the 
confidence of his people. He lost prestige as a prophet. 
His prophetic reputation was ruined. This may have been 
the reason why Jeremiah was not consulted as to the 
acceptance of the Deuteronomic law. Instead of him, an 
otherwise unknown prophetess, named Huldah, was asked 
to pass upon the new code.’ It is hardly possible that 
Jeremiah should have been ignored, if he had not been 
under a cloud. The discovery of the new law in 621 B.c. 
was too near the recent Scythian invasion for either the 
people or the government to have forgotten Jeremiah’s 
prophecies regarding it. But the effect upon the public 
was in a real sense less important than the effect upon 
Jeremiah himself. His youth had caused him to shrink 
from entering upon the task of prophecy. And now his 
worst fears were realized! Such a disillusionment must 
have been a hard trial for the young prophet’s faith. Had 
he been mistaken in supposing that he was called of God 
to prophesy? Was he properly equipped and qualified to 
be an interpreter of the divine will? Dare he ever trust 
himself again to speak as a representative of Yahweh? 
Had he not been repudiated by his God in the eyes of all 
the people? It was a stunning experience for a young man 
just entering upon the exercise of his prophetic gifts. That 
tII Kings 22:12-20. 


118 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


he felt the full force of the blow seems clear from the fact 
that he lapsed into silence after the Scythian invasion for 
a period of about fourteen years. The Deuteronomic re- 
form in 621 B.c. did not stir him to utterance, nor did the 
downfall of Nineveh in 612 B.c. call him forth from his 
retirement. During this period of quiescence the prophet 
had ample leisure to indulge in self-examination and in 
meditation upon the course of events. When he re- 
emerged into public life, it was as a mature man in 
possession of all his powers, with his spirit chastened, 
and with strength and courage renewed, ready to enter 
upon the hardest of tasks. 

The effect of the Scythian invasion and of the preach- 
ing of Zephaniah and Jeremiah was not wholly lost upon 
Judah. It is no more than reasonable to suppose that the 
Deuteronomic reform of 621 B.c. was, at least in part, due 
to the influence of recent events. The promoters of the 
reform recognized that the time was ripe for their move- 
ment. The Scythian invasion had, at least, given Judah 
a good scare. The preaching of the two prophets had 
forced them to think upon their ways. The invasion of 
Sennacherib had prepared the way for such a reform 
movement. The Assyrians had devastated forty-six cities 
of Judah and the outlying villages and small towns and 
had desecrated their shrines. The Temple at Jerusalem 
was the only one that had escaped. The inevitable con- 
clusion in the minds of the faithful would be that Yahweh 
had thereby shown his attitude toward the local shrines, 
on the one hand, and to Jerusalem, on the other. This 
experience was recent enough to be familiar to the peo- 
ple’s minds. The reform movement may thus be looked 
upon as the resultant of the joint influences of the As- 


THE PROPHETS AND THE SCYTHIANS 119 


syrian and Scythian movements and the interpretation of 
the latter by the two leading prophets of the day. The 
new elements in the Deuteronomic legislation were three: 
(x) the sharp differentiation between the clergy and the 
laity made in the limitation of the priesthood to the 
Levitical group; (2) the centralization of all lawful wor- 
ship at the Temple in Jerusalem; (3) the larger recognition 
given to humanitarian questions in the Deuteronomic 
code. Whether’ Jeremiah took any part in or attitude 
toward this reform is a matter for debate. The possible 
allusions to it in the Book of Jeremiah are but two, viz., 
Jer. 11:1-8 and 8:8. It is strange that so slight reference 
should be made to it, whether Jeremiah supported or op- 
posed the reform. It is probable that Jeremiah was not 
sure enough of himself, on the one hand, and not suffi- 
ciently trusted by the people, on the other, to take any 
public attitude at this time, so soon after the Scythian 
songs had been refuted by facts." 

Certain social consequences of the reform may be 
briefly noted. The priesthood at Jerusalem was at once 
confronted by the danger involved in an increase of power 
and the arrogance accompanying their segregated and 
exclusive position. They were now the sole guardians of 
the sacred ordinances. They became ecclesiastical aristo- 
crats. The centralization of all public worship at Jeru- 
salem involved more or less secularization of rural life. 
In communities far removed from Jerusalem, it was out 
of the question to be running up to Jerusalem frequently 
for religious purposes. Naturally, those functions which 
had been a matter of common occurrence when the altar 


t For a contrary view, see J. Skinner, Prophecy and Religion (1922), 
pp. 89-107. 


120 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


was within a few hundred yards of the home fell into dis- 
use when the distance to the shrine extended to mile after 
mile. The religious side of life must necessarily be less 
conspicuously in evidence. On the other hand, the dep- 
rivation of the opportunity and the facilities for fre- 
quent acts of public worship with its official ceremonies 
became a challenge to the truly religious spirit. It forced 
upon the people a greater degree of spiritual inwardness, 
and to those susceptible to such a type of life it opened 
wide the doors for meditation and prayer. This was a 
very real preparation for the experiences of exile which 
were to come upon Judah and force her to dispense with 
the altar and external ritual for some time. The people of 
Judah were thus given a chance to accustom themselves 
to communion with a God who “‘dwelleth not in houses 
made with hands.” 

In other ways the centralization of worship had great 
influence. The necessity of making all sacrifices at Jeru- 
salem brought with it economic changes. Few men would 
take a solitary sheep or ox to Jerusalem for sacrificial pur- 
poses. A regular business of providing sacrificial animals 
would grow up. We recall that Jesus drove the money- 
changers out of the Temple. The regular trips to Jeru- 
salem would tend to break down in some measure the 
provincialism of the people. Men from different regions 
of the country would meet and exchange views and in- 
formation. Such meetings would make the people in gen- 
eral more intelligent as to their own country and their 
own people and would give them some knowledge of the 
outside world. But the women of the household would 
not reap these advantages, directly, at least. They would 
be the ones to stay at home and look after the children 


THE PROPHETS AND THE SCYTHIANS 121 


and the live stock. The women in any civilization are the 
natural conservers of things religious. But these women 
would have no chance to enlarge their outlook. They 
would keep on thinking the old thoughts and practicing 
the old customs. Thus the path of progress would be 
made difficult, and the work of prophets like Jeremiah 
become correspondingly harder. 


CHAPTER VIII 
VENGEANCE AND FAITH 


Recently an Assyrian document in the British Muse- 
um has been brought to light which makes necessary a 
revision of accepted opinions with reference to the fall of 
Nineveh.’ Heretofore that event has been placed at 607 
or 606 B.c. The new evidence shows that it took place in 
612 B.c. It also appears that the downfall of Nineveh was 
not the complete end of the Assyrian Empire, but that 
the Assyrians retired from Nineveh and set up head- 
quarters inHarran. Furthermore, Pharaoh Necho was not 
hastening to seize the territory of the fallen Assyrian 
Empire in 608 B.c. when Josiah met him at Megiddo, but 
was marching to the support of Assyria against victorious 
Babylon. It is doubtful whether there was any battle at 
Megiddo between Josiah’s forces and those of Pharaoh 
Necho; the biblical narrative in IL Kings 23:29 simply 
says that Josiah “went up to meet him, and he killed him 
as soon as he saw him.” It is quite possible that Necho, 
on his way to the aid of Assyria and desiring to make sure 
that no foe should arise behind him, sent for Josiah to 
make sure of his attitude toward Egypt, and, not finding 
it to his liking, proceeded to make assurance doubly sure 
by putting Josiah to death. Therefore, the people placed 
Jehoahaz upon the vacant throne; but Necho dethroned 


tSee C. J. Gadd, The Fall of Nineveh (1923). 


2TI Kings 23:29 in the Authorized Version is mistaken in saying 
that Pharaoh Necho “went up against the king of Assyria.” 


I22 


VENGEANCE AND FAITH 123 


him and held him in captivity at Riblah on the Orontes 
River, making Jehoiakim king in his stead,* and placing 
him under heavy tribute. But Necho, in turn, reached 
the end of his rope. In 605 B.c., Nebuchadrezzar, of 
Babylon, overthrew him at Carchemish and became at 
once master of all Western Asia. These great events were 
making their impression upon the minds of the prophets, 
viz., Jeremiah, Nahum, and Habakkuk. The words of the 
last two of these we shall study in this chapter. 

The prophet Nahum spoke apparently just before the 
downfall of Nineveh in 612 B.c. at the hands of the Baby- 
lonians and Medes. Nothing is known of him, his family 
connections, or his home.? He is simply a voice speaking 
out of the dark. His significance lies in the fact that he is 
a good representative of what must have been a fairly 
common state of mind in Judah when the course of events 
pointed toward the impending fall of Nineveh. Assyria 
had long been the taskmaster of the oriental world. The 
Assyrian kings had enforced their will ruthlessly with fire 
and sword. They had spoiled one capital after another, 
and had laid so heavy a tribute upon the peoples as to 
bleed the vassal countries white. Word of the approach- 
ing overthrow of the oppressor would be a gospel of glad 
tidings at every vassal court. 

Nahum exults over the coming disaster, not merely as 
a good patriot, but also as a loyal follower of Yahweh. 
The continued dominance of wicked Assyria over the 
people of Yahweh had been a severe trial of faith to those 
who were believers in Yahweh’s love for Judah. The fall 


™II Kings 23:30-35. 


2See J. M. Powis Smith, Nahum (‘International Critical Commen- 
tary,’’ 1911). 


124 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


of Nineveh presented itself to many of them as a vindica- 
tion of the justice of Yahweh and also as a richly deserved 
fate for the oppressing tyrant. It was much easier to 
believe in Yahweh with Assyria prostrate in the dust than 
with the Assyrian lion rampant and destroying on every 
hand. Out of such feelings of relief and satisfaction as 
these Nahum sang his paean of exulting joy: 


Did not one come forth from you devising evil against Yahweh, 
counselling wickedness? 

Yahweh has commanded regarding you, “There shall be sown of 
your name no longer; 

From the house of your gods, I will cut off the graven and the 
molten image; 

I will make your grave a dishonor.” 

A shatterer comes up against you; keep the rampart; 

Watch the road; brace your loins; strengthen your might to the 
utmost. 


The shield of his warriors is reddened; the mighty men are clothed 
in scarlet. 

They will prepare the chariots on that day; the chargers will 
tremble. 

In the fields chariots rage to and fro; they run about in the open 
places. 

Their appearance resembles torches; they dart about like lightning. 

He summons his nobles; they. take command of their divisions (?), 

They hasten to the wall and the battering-ram (?) is set up. 


The gates of the river are opened, and the palace melts away. 

And... . and her maidens are moaning, 

Like the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts. 

And Nineveh—like a pool of water are her defenders, and as they 
flee, 

“Stand fast, stand fast,”’ one cries, but no one turns back. 

“Plunder silver, plunder gold; for there is no end to the supplies.” 


Hebrew Huzzab is unintelligible. 


VENGEANCE AND FAITH 125 


There is emptiness and void and waste, and a melting heart and 
staggering knees. 

And anguish is in all loins and the faces of all of them become livid. 

Where is the den of lions and the cave of the young lions, 

Whither the lion went to enter, the lion’s cub, with none to disturb; 

Where the lion toré prey sufficient for his cubs and rended for his 
lionesses, 

And filled his dens with prey and his lair with booty? 


Behold I am against you; it is the oracle of Yahweh of hosts. 

And I will burn up chariots with smoke, and the sword will devour 
your young lions. 

And I will cut off your booty from the land, and the voice of your 
messengers will be heard no more.! 


Nothing could be more striking than the contrast be- 
tween Nahum and Jeremiah in their attitudes toward the 
fall of Nineveh. Jeremiah, brooding over the sins of Israel 
and mindful of the mistake he had made in regard to the 
Scythians, had nothing to say upon the subject of As- 
syria’s overthrow. Nineveh’s fall started no note of praise 
or gratitude from his lips. And yet Jeremiah had felt him- 
self called to be a prophet to the nations. But he was 
crushed for the time being by the burden of his own sor- 
row. Nahum, on the other hand, bursts into jubilant song 
at the prospect of the speedy end of his people’s foe. This 
was what he and the masses of the people had longed for 
ardently. This meant relief for Judah and vindication for 
Judah’s God. Patriotism and religion both found com- 
plete satisfaction in the contemplation of such a prospect 
for the great enemy of God and man. The most vivid and 
forceful expression of Nahum’s joy is found in his picture 
of the imminent and inevitable end. 


t Nah. 1:11, 14; 2:2, 4-14. Nah. 1:1-10, 12 f. and 2:1, 3 are later 
additions to the book; see Commentary, ad loc. 


126 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Oh city, bloody throughout, full of lies and spoil; plunder ceases 
not! 

The crack of the whip and the noise of the rumbling wheel and the 
galloping horse, 

And the jolting chariot and the rearing horsemen. 

And the flash of the sword and the glitter of the spear, and a 
multitude of slain; 

And a mass of bodies, and no end to the carcasses; 

Because of the many harlotries of a harlot of goodly favor and 
mistress of enchantments, 

Who betrays nations by her harlotries and clans by her enchant- 
ments. 


Behold I am against you, it is the oracle of Yahweh of hosts, and 
I will lay back your skirts upon your face; 

And I will show nations your nakedness and kingdoms your shame. 

And I will cast loathsome things on you and render you con- 
temptible and make you a sight, 

So that whosoever may see you will flee from you, 

And say, ‘“‘Nineveh is destroyed; who mourns for her? 

Whence shall I seek comforters for her?” 


Are you better than No-Amon that sat by the great Nile, 

Whose rampart was a sea, whose wall was water? 

Ethiopia was her strength; Put and the Libyans were her help. 

Yet even she was for exile and went into captivity. 

Even her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street. 

And upon her nobles they cast lots and all her great men were 
bound in fetters.* 

You too will be drunken, you will be faint, 

You will seek refuge from the foe. . 

All your fortresses are fig-trees, your people are first-ripe figs; 

If they be shaken, they will fall into the mouth of the eater. 

Behold, women are in the midst of you, fire has devoured your bars; 

To your enemies the gates of your land are opened wide. 


* No-Amon, i.e. Thebes, was captured by Ashurbanipal, of Assyria, 
in 666 B.c. 


VENGEANCE AND FAITH 127 


Draw you water for the siege; strengthen your forts. 

Enter into the mire, and trample the clay; lay hold of the brick- 
mold. | 

There fire will devour you, the sword will cut you off. 

Multiply yourself like the locust; multiply yourself like the locust- 
swarm. 

Increase your merchants more than the stars of the heavens, 

Your sacred officials (?) like the locust-swarm, and your scribes (?) 
like the locusts, 

That encamp in the walls in the cool of the day. 

The sun arises and they flee; their place is not known. 


How your shepherds slumber, your nobles sleep! 

Your people are scattered upon the mountains, with none to 
gather them. 

There is no healing for your wound; your hurt is incurable: 

All who hear the report of you will clap their hands.? 


A little later than the fall of Nineveh, the complete 
overthrow of Assyria and the rise to supreme power of 
Babylonia occurred. In 605 B.c., Nebuchadrezzar, of 
Babylonia, met Pharaoh Necho, Assyria’s ally, at Car- 
chemish and put him to rout. From that moment, Nebu- 
chadrezzar was master of Western Asia. In connection 
with that event, the prophet Habakkuk freed his mind of 
a great problem.” Nothing is known of the man Habakkuk; 
it is not clear even whether he was the original prophet or 
whether he was but the editor of the present book. But 


t Nah. 3:1-109. 

2B. Duhm, Das Buch Habakuk (1906), proposed to place this prophet 
as a contemporary of Alexander the Great and to regard the entire book 
as a unit coming from that period. He is now followed by Nowack, Die 
kleinen Propheten (3d ed., 1922), and Ernst Sellin, Das Zwélfprophetenbuch 
(1922). But this treatment of the text rests upon two wholly conjectural 
textual emendations and presupposes a unity which it is hard to find; cf. 
Hélscher, Die Propheten (1914), pp. 442. 


128 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


we shall attach the content of the original prophecy to 
his name. 

The prophet complains to Yahweh that wickedness is 
running riot everywhere in the land. Robbery and vio- 
lence are prevalent. Law and justice are set at naught. 
The wicked get the better of the righteous and the right- 
eous are without recourse. Yahweh has seen and known 
this state of affairs, and yet fails to take action and de- 
liver the righteous from his troubles. The prophet has 
long protested to Yahweh regarding this iniquitous state 
of affairs; but his protest has been unheeded.* These con- 
ditions are most easily understood as descriptive of the 
situation within Judah itself. Social injustice in accord- 
ance with which the strong plundered the weak was rife 
in the land. It is the old prophetic message again ringing 
in our ears. 

Yahweh himself now appears as the speaker. He de- 
clares that he is about to do an almost incredible thing 
on the stage of world-history. He is bringing forth the 
Chaldeans, who will sweep everything before them. These 
people are thus described in vivid and picturesque lan- 
guage: 

For behold I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and hasty 
nation, 

That goes through the broad places of the earth, to seize habita- 
tions not its own. 


Terrible and frightful is it. 
From itself its justice and its dignity proceed. 


Swifter than leopards are its horses, 

And keener than evening wolves. 

And its horsemen come from afar; 

They fly, like the vulture hastening to devour. 


t Hab. 1: 2-4. 


VENGEANCE AND FAITH 129 


Wholly for violence does he come. 
Yea, he turns not west and east.! 
And he gathers up captives like the sand. 


And he makes sport of kings; 

And potentates are a jest to him. 
He laughs at every fortress, 

And he heaps up earth and takes it.? 


The ruthless might and unchecked career of the Chal- 
deans do but complicate the problem of the prophet. It 
is true that the wicked oppressors in Judah need and de- 
serve punishment. But, after all, the Jews are better 
than the Chaldeans; and in any case the good Jews are 
not helped by being made the victims of the violence and 
plunder of the Chaldeans. How can Yahweh tolerate such 
proceedings? Is the Chaldean to go on indefinitely defy- 
ing God and man? Having flung this challenge into the 
face of God, the prophet represents himself as taking his 
position upon his watchtower and waiting for the answer 
that must come. 

The answer itself is introduced in the most impressive 
manner. Yahweh bids the prophet take tablets and write 
the contents of the vision he is to receive in such large 
and clear characters that the passer-by may read as he 
hurries past. Then, with a final assurance that the ful- 
filment of the vision is not far off and an admonition to the 
prophet not to become impatient for its realization, the 
content of the vision is revealed to him: 


Behold! swollen, not straight, is his soul in him; 
But the righteous will live by reason of his faithfulness. 


t See George G. V. Stonehouse, The Book of Habakkuk (1911), ad loc. 
The Hebrew text here is corrupt. 


etiab. 1:0-10. 
3 Hab. 1:13-17. Hab. 1:11, 12 is from the hand of an editor. 


130 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


The more so when.... 
A haughty man and he will not abide? 


The answer that comes to the prophet is not to be 
thought of as stopping with verse 4. ‘“Tablets,” in the 
plural, would hardly be needed for the writing of two lines 
of text. The idiom at the opening of verse 5 seems to bind 
verse 5 closely to verse 4. The text of verse 5 is badly 
spoiled, so that as it now stands it yields no satisfactory 
sense. It is clear, however, that the status and fortune of 
the “righteous” in verse 4 is contrasted with that of the 
wicked in verses 5 ff. The following verses are filled with 
denunciations and threats against the wicked oppressor, 
and they prophesy his complete overthrow. They have 
been supplemented by later hands at various points where 
they reflect the ideas of later times.” 

The first words of this vision are the most important 
part of it. They have been made familiar to the Christian 
world by the use of them in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
10:38; and they were lifted into new life by Luther’s use 
of them as the watchword of his reform movement. But 
the New Testament rendering and Luther’s use of it alike 
fail to reproduce the exact meaning of the original words. 
That meaning, of course, grew out of the problem of the 
prophet as outlined in the previous statement of his diffi- 
culty to Yahweh. This prophet, like all his predecessors, 
believed the formula that piety and prosperity were cause 
and effect. If a nation or an individual pleased Yahweh 


+ Haba. 


2See the differing opinions of the commentaries on this question. 
But there is general recognition of vss. 14 and 18—20 as late. The third 
chapter, as a whole, is a psalm from later times that has been attached to 
the text of Habakkuk. Note the superscription at the beginning and end. 


VENGEANCE AND FAITH 32 


by the kind of life lived or policy followed, then that na- 
tion or individual would prosper; on the other hand, if the 
conduct of nation or individual were such as to be dis- 
pleasing to Yahweh, then misfortune would come upon 
the transgressor. The prophet is puzzled because this 
view of life does not seem to be in accordance with the 
facts as he sees them. He has therefore brought his ques- 
tion to Yahweh, from whom in due course he has received 
the answer: 


Behold, swollen, not upright, is his soul within him: 
But the righteous shall live because of his faithfulness. 


This means simply that the Chaldean power is doomed to 
downfall, because of its internal weakness. That weak- 
ness is suggested by two figures, the one of an inflated 
bubble or bag that must burst, the other of a crooked 
wall that must fall or beam that will break. The Chal- 
dean power carries within itself the seeds of its own de- 
struction. But the righteous people, that is the Jewish 
nation, will endure and triumph because of its sound 
character. The word “faithfulness” here is not mere creed- 
al opinion, or even conviction; it is rather faith in action. 
It means steadfastness of purpose and act; it is almost 
equivalent to integrity. What, then, has the answer said? 
Is it not essentially the same old doctrine, piety will pros- 
per and wickedness will come to ruin? Yes, and no! 

The difference between this prophet’s affirmation that 
piety pays and that of his predecessors is that he has 
pondered over this problem and thought it through. He 
is not now holding a merely inherited faith. It is a faith 
. that he has agonized over in spirit and has reaffirmed for 
himself after subjecting it to all the light available. Itisa 


132 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


reasoned faith rather than one that has been placidly ac- 
cepted without question at the hands of tradition. It is 
therefore more likely to stand the strains of the future, for 
it is firmly founded on personal experience. 

This contribution from Habakkuk constitutes a new 
phenomenon in the history of prophecy. Heretofore, the 
prophets have been content to say, ““Thus says Yahweh.” 
They have been nothing if not dogmatic. They have felt 
assured that they knew the mind of God and were com- 
missioned to interpret it to the nation. But here is some- 
thing different. This prophet is asking questions. He is 
daring to call in question a traditional dogma. He is chal- 
lenging Yahweh to demonstrate the justice of his adminis- 
tration. Previous prophets may have had private ques- 
tions of this sort which troubled their spirits; but no trace 
of such doubts had appeared in public expression of their 
message. This prophet exposes the inner workings of his 
mind for the benefit of all observers. He has no fears nor 
scruples as to the legitimacy of his own mental and reli- 
gious processes. He takes for granted the propriety of the 
interrogative attitude toward his God. He is seeking for 
light upon a difficult question and he looks for that light 
to come from Yahweh, the source of all his light. Thus 
he furnished to the Scriptures of his race and of the world 
an illustration and example of the recognition of the right 
of inquiry and investigation in the field of ethics and reli- 
gion. Certainly, his search brought him out at the point 
where he started; but he believed in and exercised the 
right to question traditional opinions and institutions and 
to demand of them justification for their existence. He 
has established for all time the principle that the search 
for truth is an essentially religious procedure. 


VENGEANCE AND FAITH 133 


This bit of prophecy is an illustration of a familiar 
truth, viz., that faith is always an achievement, not a 
mere inheritance. The Hebrews, of the exilic and post- 
exilic periods at least, had to fight for their faith. It was 
difficult to believe in Yahweh as the supreme God when 
Yahweh’s people were rapidly losing all place and power 
in the political world. Was Yahweh not able to protect his 
own people? If so, why continue to worship him? It was 
hard to believe in the moral order of the universe when a 
wicked nation was trampling the people of Yahweh into 
the dust. It is the glory of Judaism that men like Habak- 
kuk kept faith alive in the hearts of the people during a 
series of national calamities that might well have crushed 
the life out of it. The faith of Judaism grew richer and 
stronger the more severely it was tried. 


CHAPTER IX 
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM 


After the departure of the Scythians, as we have seen, 
Jeremiah seems to have gone into retirement for a while. 
During his period of quiescence, great things were hap- 
pening inside and outside of Judah. In 621 B.c. the Deu- 
teronomic reform had swept over the country, backed by 
the authority of the good king Josiah. In 612 B.c., Nin- 
eveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, had fallen at the 
hands of the Medes and Babylonians. In 608 B.c. Pha- 
raoh Necho had come to the assistance of the retreating 
Assyrians who had made their last stand in Harran. On 
his way through Palestine, Pharaoh had slain Josiah, king 
of Judah, at Megiddo. Thereupon, the people of Judah 
had placed Jehoahaz upon the throne in his father’s place, 
only to have Pharaoh Necho put him in prison and set 
another son of Josiah’s upon the vacant throne, changing 
his name from Eliakim to Jehoiakim. At the same time, 
Judah was taxed to the extent of ten talents of gold and 
one hundred talents of silver as a war indemnity to 
Egypt.? In 605-604 B.c., Necho was overthrown at Car- 
chemish by Nebuchadrezzar, the Babylonian, with whom 
the lordship of the world changed hands. The land of 
Judah received a new overlord and became subject to 
Babylon for three years.? It is uncertain whether this 
submission to Babylon followed immediately upon Car- 

‘II Kings 23: 29-35. This tribute was the equivalent, roughly speak- 
ing, of about two and a quarter millions of dollars. ) 

2 TI Kings 24:1. 

134 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL 135 


chemish or was deferred a few years until Nebuchadrezzar 
could gather in the fruits of his victory and consolidate 
his empire. It may well have been that Jehoiakim enjoyed 
a brief period of independence between the downfall of 
Necho and the coming of Nebuchadrezzar. In any case, 
it is safe to say that his final revolt at the end of the three 
years of submission to Babylon was almost certainly insti- 
gated by Egypt. 

It is problematical as to when Jeremiah first broke si- 
lence after his retirement. The death of Josiah in 608 
B.C. must have been a terrific shock to Judah. Josiah was 
a relatively pious being who had zealously carried out the 
will of Yahweh as made known to him by priests and 
prophets. Indeed, he is credited with one of the greatest 
reform movements ever put through in Judah. According 
to the generally accepted theories and the faith of the 
times, his reign should have been crowned with success 
and glory. But, on the contrary, he was cut off suddenly 
by the sword of the enemy. This situation surely stirred 
Jeremiah to utterance. We know Jeremiah’s estimate of 
Josiah to have been favorable. He commended him short- 
ly after his death and contrasted him with his successors." 
Perhaps this was his first reappearance as prophet. Cer- 
tainly it showed no lack of courage. Shortly after Jehoia- 
kim’s accession, Jeremiah confronted him with this mes- 
ai Do not weep for the dead, nor bemoan him; 

Weep sore for the one who goes away; 

For he will not return again, 

Nor see the land of his birth. 
This dismisses summarily any lingering hopes that may 
have been entertained for the return of Jehoahaz. He has 


Pier 2251, 10-19. 


136 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


gone to Egypt to stay there. But Jeremiah went on to 
pay his respects to Jehoiakim: 


Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, 
And his upper rooms by injustice, 

Who employs his neighbor without pay, 

And does not give him his wages. 

The one who says, “I shall build myself a spacious house 
And upper rooms that are airy. 

And he cuts out windows for it; 

And it is paneled with cedar, 

And painted in red.” 


Would you show yourself king in that you excel your father in 
cedar? 

Did he not eat and drink, 

And do justice and righteousness? 

Then it went well with him. 

He judged the cause of the poor and needy. 

Then it was well. 

“Ts not this to know me?” says Yahweh. 


For your eyes and heart are on nothing 
But unlawful gain, 

And upon pouring out innocent blood, 
And upon doing oppression and violence. 


His final word regarding Jehoiakim, whether spoken 
at this time or more probably somewhat later, threatens 
him with disgraceful death. He will die “unwept, un- 
honored, and unsung.” Jeremiah’s experience with the 
Scythians did not teach him caution. He daringly threat- 
ened Jehoiakim with violent death and denial of burial. 
Another version of this prediction given in Jer. 36:20 
places it after Jehoiakim had burned the roll of prophecies 
sent to him by Jeremiah, and adds that Jehoiakim will 


t Jer. 22:18 f. 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL 137 


have no successor of his own blood to sit upon David’s 
throne. But again history failed Jeremiah, for we are 
told in II Kings 24:6 that Jehoiakim slept with his fathers 
and was succeeded by his own son Jehoiachim. The Greek 
translation of II Chron. 36:8 adds that Jehoiakim ‘‘was 
buried in the tomb with his fathers.’”’ This is probably a 
genuine element of the original narrative preserved by the 
Chronicler. 

The same unshrinking courage was in evidence again 
when Jeremiah appeared in the Temple court one day and 
foretold the total destruction of that sacred building. The 
record of this is found in Jer. 7:1-15 and 26:1-24. We get 
the content of the message in chapter 7, and its effect up- 
on those who heard it in chapter 26. Jeremiah’s message 
on that occasion was a declaration that the confidence of 
the people in the protecting power of the Temple in Jeru- 
salem was without any basis in reality. The only guar- 
anty of safety is to be found in true religion, which is not 
a matter of temple worship but of loyalty to Yahweh and 
of social justice. Since deeds of real piety are not forth- 
coming, the Temple at Jerusalem is to suffer the same fate 
as the temple at Shiloh had undergone in days long past. 
This announcement aroused great indignation in Jeru- 
salem, and came near costing Jeremiah his life. A mob 
gathered around him, led by the priests and the prophets, 
and threatened him with death. The government officials 
intervened. Jeremiah maintained his position and re- 
minded them that it was dangerous to do violence to the 
person of a prophet of Yahweh. Thereupon, the people 
swung over to the side of Jeremiah and supported the 
officials against the charges of the priests and the conven- 
tional prophets. Moreover, some of the elders of the 


138 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


people remembered the prophecy of Micah and cited his 
immunity in Hezekiah’s time as a precedent for toleration 
in this case. Not only so, but a prominent leader, Ahikam, 
the son of Shaphan, took Jeremiah’s part and saved him 
from the fury of the hierarchy.’ 

Shortly after this scene, perhaps, Jeremiah was back 
in Anathoth, his home village, which he had left some 
time before in order to take up his residence in Jerusalem. 
While in Anathoth he discovered a plot among his former 
neighbors to put him to death. The discovery of this 
treachery stirred him to the depths and aroused in him 
fierce resentment. They prohibited him from prophesying 
on pain of death. He retaliated by prophesying the total 
annihilation of Anathoth and its people as penalty for 
their impiety.? But this experience seems to have brought 
about a reaction in his own spirit, so that he was con- 
fronted by doubts similar to those that had troubled 
Habakkuk. In this state of mind he expressed himself 
thus: 


Righteous art thou, O Yahweh, though I complain against thee; 
Yet of matters of justice would I talk with thee. 

Why is it that the way of the wicked prospers, 

And all tricksters are at ease? 


Thou didst plant them, yea, they have taken root; 
They bear and indeed yield fruit. 

Thou art near in their mouth, 

But far from their heart. 


O Yahweh, thou hast known me; thou seest me; 
And thou hast tested my heart with thee. 

Drag them out, like sheep to the slaughter, 

And dedicate them for the day of carnage. 


t Jeremiah, chap. 26. 2 Jer. 11: 18-23. 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL 139 


How long must the land mourn, 

And the herbs of the field wither? 
For the wickedness of its inhabitants, 
Beasts and birds are consumed. 


Verily, with footmen you have run and they have tried you; 
Then how will you compete with horses? 

And in a peaceful land you are fleeing, 

So how will you do in the jungle of the Jordan?! 


In the last stanza Yahweh brings the prophet up short 
and sharp. What Jeremiah has suffered thus far is not to 
be compared with what he has still to bear. If the proph- 
et’s thought is faithfully reflected here, he certainly found 
no solution to his problem. Making the situation go from 
bad to worse does not clarify its meaning. Even so, Jere- 
miah was not halted in his course by any fears for the 
future. He did not wait to see his way clear through his 
difficulties before going further with his work. He walked 
by faith and not by sight. 

Jeremiah spared no pains to make clear to his people 
and their rulers the fate that he saw awaiting them. He 
was fertile in the discovery of ways and means by which 
to impress his message upon his hearers. In 13:1~-11, he 
relates a story of his going to the banks of the Euphrates 
and there burying a soiled loin-cioth. After the lapse of 
some time he makes another journey and digs up the 
cloth, only to find it ruined. All this is to impress upon the 
mind of Judah that in Yahweh’s sight the people are as 
filthy and useless as the rotten cloth. This was surely a 
tremendous expenditure of energy in proportion to the 
result attained! It is probable, however, that the prophet 
was reporting here the content of a vision that had passed 


t Jer. 12:1-5,. 


140 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


before his mind’s eye. Jeremiah was certainly susceptible 
to ecstatic experiences, and in some cases distinctly 
labels his oracles as having originated in visions, e.g., 
1:11 f.;1:13f.; 24:1 ff. Further, it is clear in at least one 
place, viz., 1:9 f., that Jeremiah was giving the content 
of a vision, even though he does not mention the fact that 
it was a vision. That seems to have been the case here 
also. Indeed, the ecstatic experience was probably much 
more evident in the work of the prophets than we have 
hitherto supposed.? This fact furnishes at least a partial 
explanation of their unshakable confidence in the correct- 
ness of their interpretations of history and current events. 
From an early period in Jehoiakim’s reign, perhaps, comes 
a group of prophecies in which Jeremiah recognizes the 
futility of his efforts and foresees the downfall of Judah 
as punishment for the people’s lack of faith in Yahweh.’ 
Here we meet the familiar and striking figure of speech 
first coined by Jeremiah, 


Can the Ethiopian change his skin, 
Or the leopard his spots? 

Then you also may do good, 

Who are trained to do evil.3 


Other familiar phrases are found in these oracles, e.g., 


They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, 
Saying, ‘‘Peace, peace,’”’ where there is no peace.‘ 


t See H. W. Hines, ‘“‘The Prophet as a Mystic,” American Journal of 
Semitic Languages and Literatures, XL (1923), 37-71; cf. Hélscher, Die 
Propheten (1914), pp. 243-46, 275 ff.; J. Skinner, Prophecy and Religion 
(1923), pp. 4, 220f.; and T. H. Robinson, Prophecy and the Prophets 
(1923). 

2 Jer. 13:15-273 12:7-12; 11: 15-17; 8:4—9:1. 

s Jer. 12723; 4 Jer (8:11. 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL 141 


and 
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, 


And we are not saved.? 
and again, 
Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?? 


If we could separate the genuine utterances of Jeremiah 
from the mass of later material attached to his name, we 
should doubtless be impressed with the freshness and vig- 
or of his style, even as we are by the courage of his 
thought. 

Jeremiah’s oracles against the foreign nations in 
chapters 25 and 46-51 have given rise to much question- 
ing in recent years. Did Jeremiah concern himself serious- 
ly with the fate of the pagan world? Are these oracles 
characterized by the same spirit, thought, and style as are 
found elsewhere in Jeremiah’s writings?’ It must be borne 
in mind that Jeremiah’s “call” included the non-Israelit- 
ish world in its scope.‘ It is also noticeable that the mes- 
sage to the nations in 25:15 ff. is couched in ecstatic 
terms. Jeremiah there sees himself in vision receiving the 
cup of Yahweh’s wrath from his hands and proffering it to 
nation after nation that they may drink. This is, of 
course, a trance experience rather than a mere parable. 
But in trance life the seer is always carried beyond the 
merely real, and is brought into contact with the ideal. 
There are no limits to the range of the powers of the en- 


NeLA5 +20; ern oO: 22: 


3 The chief opponents of the genuineness of these chapters have been 
Schwally, Zeitschrift fiir die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, VIII (1888), 
177 ff.; Smend, Lehrbuch der alttestamentliche Religionsgeschichte (1899), 
pp. 238 f.; Duhm, Jeremia (1901), pp. 336 ff. 

ert =10, 


142 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


tranced. It seems reasonable, therefore, to accept the rep- 
resentation of 25:15 ff. in general and to believe that the 
prophecies in chapters 46 ff. are at least based upon cer- 
tain materials of this sort that originated with Jeremiah 
himself. No man in the last days of Judah could concern 
himself with national problems and escape constant con- 
tact with international questions. The world of the Fer- 
tile Crescent and Egypt was a world of constant intrigue. 
All politics had to be world-politics. No nation any longer 
was sufficient unto itself. Jeremiah had very strong con- 
victions upon these matters; and naturally, therefore, his 
prophecies concerned themselves more or less with foreign 
peoples." 

In 605-604 B.c., the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign, 
Jeremiah sent for Baruch, the scribe, and dictated to him 
the sum and substance of his preaching from the time of 
his call in 627 B.c., twenty-three years before. Some time 
afterward, when the roll of sermons was completed, he 
sent Baruch with the manuscript to read it to the people 
as they were assembled in the Temple for the celebration 
of a fast day.? One of those who heard this reading re- 
ported the matter to a group of the nobles assembled in a 
neighboring house. They sent for Baruch at once and 
heard the oracles for themselves. ‘They in turn reported 
to the king, meanwhile giving Jeremiah and Baruch a 
chance to go into hiding. The king, too, desired to hear 
the oracles read, but as they were read roll by roll, Jehoia- 
kim cut the rolls in pieces and tossed them into the fire 


t The prophecies against foreign nations are defended by Cornill, 
Giesebrecht, Skinner, Peake, and Sellin; cf. George Adam Smith, Jere- 
miak (1924). 

# Jer, 36:1-10, 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL 143 


burning in the brazier. Jeremiah, safely hidden from the 
wrath of the king, thereupon dictated the oracles afresh, 
and apparently left the new roll in the hands of Baruch. 
That roll furnished the starting-point for the present 
Book of Jeremiah.’ This gave Jeremiah a chance to bring 
his old oracles against the Scythians up to date by rein- 
terpreting them as applying to the new enemy from the 
north, viz., the Babylonians. But it also aroused the 
wrath of Jehoiakim against him and forced him to keep in 
hiding. About this same time, after the writing of the 
rolls, Baruch consulted Jeremiah as to his own future. In 
response to this request, Jeremiah gave Baruch a word 
of personal assurance to the effect that he need expect no 
honors nor blessings for himself, for destruction was com- 
ing upon the whole land; but at least he could count upon 
saving his own life. Baruch might well have asked: “‘What 
is life worth, with nothing to live upon?” But that was 
not the spirit that actuated Jeremiah’s faithful friend. 
At this point we may consider certain undated mate- 
rials in Jeremiah, chapters 14-20. These chapters reflect 
a great deal of doubt and grief on Jeremiah’s part as he 
contemplated the approaching fate of his beloved people. 
They are variously located in Jeremiah’s life by inter- 
preters, there being no agreement as to their precise date. 
They may well have occupied Jeremiah’s mind at the 
time when he was in hiding from the wrathful Jehoiakim. 
From chapter 14 it appears that a severe drought fell up- 
on the land which caused grievous protests against Yah- 
weh on the part of the populace. Jeremiah felt himself 
debarred from pleading the cause of Judah with Yahweh, 
since he knew in his heart of hearts that such prayers 
* Jer. 36:11-23, 32. 


144 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


could not be answered because of the faithless and dis- 
loyal attitude of the people toward its God.* Jeremiah in 
the form of a conversation with Yahweh, which again may 
have been an ecstatic experience rather than a literary 
device, then discussed the work of the prophets in opposi- 
tion to himself. These men were prophets of prosperity 
and naturally more acceptable to the people than Jere- 
miah’s prophecies of calamity. But Jeremiah was con- 
vinced that they were in the wrong, and did not hesitate 
to call them liars and deceivers and to threaten them and 
the land as a whole with famine and sword.? The picture 
of death and desolation is continued in 15:5-9. Jere- 
miah then gives us a glimpse into his own inner life. He 
reveals his grief that his calling has brought upon him the 
curses of his own people. He calls upon Yahweh to avenge 
him of his persecutors and declares that he suffers solely 
because he has spoken Yahweh’s word.? Yahweh rebukes 
him for his unworthy thoughts and assures him of protec- 
tion against all his foes.4 —The Jeremiah of this experience 
is a very human person, subject to the fluctuations of 
temperament and the gusts of passion that so easily beset 
us all.s 

In 18:1-10, we are given a very clear presentation of 
the view that all predictions made by Yahweh’s prophets 

x Jer. 14: 10-12. 2 Jer. 14:13-16. 

3 Jer. 15:10, 11, 15-18. This passage (15:15 f.) is supported by other 
passages calling down vengeance on Jeremiah’s foes, viz., 11:20 f.; 12:3; 
17:18; 18:20 ff.; and 20:12. Of these, Duhm leaves to Jeremiah only 
11:20; 15:15; and 18:20; Cornill accepts only 11: 20-210; 15:15; Peake 
12:30; 15:15; 17:18d; 20:3 ff., 12; while Giesebrecht and Steuernagel 
accept them all as genuine. 

4 Jer..1§:10, 11. 

5 Other passages, perhaps from this same period in Jeremiah’s life, 
which reflect his changing moods are Jer. 17: 14-17; 18: 18-20. 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL 145 


are conditional and not absolute. Just as a potter re-works 
his lump of clay and makes another vessel out of it, if the 
first attempt is spoiled on the wheel, so Yahweh changes 
his purpose with reference to his people when they change 
their conduct either for good or bad. Looked at in another 
way, this is equivalent to saying that the purpose of all 
prediction is to affect the conduct of the people to whom 
the prophet preaches. If disaster is foretold, it is for the 
purpose of warning the people from sin; and if blessings 
are promised, it is to strengthen them in their loyalty to 
true religion and win them to more faithful service.’ In 
this same chapter, Jeremiah’s message of destruction as 
punishment for idolatrous practices stirs up the wrath of 
his hearers, and they devise evil against him. Of partic- 
ular interest is the charge they make against him, viz., 
that he is trying to overthrow established institutions, 
which by their nature are of the permanent order of the 
universe.? The three types of religious instruction are 
cited as the unchangeable, enduring things: 


Law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the sage, 
nor word from the prophet. 


It is significant that these opponents of Jeremiah did not 
select more material and tangible institutions of the social 
and political order as guaranties of permanence, but these 
pre-eminently spiritual and idealistic and apparently least 
substantial and enduring elements of the national life. 
They evidently were not wholly blind. 

Jeremiah’s repeated Cassandra-like prophecies were 
not allowed to go unrebuked. On one occasion when he 

tSee J. M. Powis Smith, The Prophet and His Problems (1914), 
chap. iv, ‘“‘Prophetic Prediction.” 

4 Jer. 18:18. 


146 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


had dramatically predicted the destruction of Jerusalem,’ 
he was arrested by Pashur, the priestly chief of the Tem- 
ple police, and was placed in the stocks, in which uncom- 
fortable situation he had to spend the night. When 
Pashur released him on the morrow, Jeremiah hurled at 
him a most terrifying oracle: ‘““Yahweh has not called your 
name Pashur, but Magor missabib,”’ i.e., ‘‘terror-from- 
every-side.”” After this bad night, Jeremiah quite natu- 
rally was low in spirit. He first protested to Yahweh 
against his treatment of him and his permitting his foes 
to harass him, and ended by calling down the curse of God 
upon them: 


Thou didst entice me, O Yahweh, and I yielded. 
Thou wast stronger than I and thou didst prevail. 
I have become a laughing-stock all day long; 
Everybody taunts me. 


For whenever I speak, I cry out; 

I cry “Violence” and “Destruction.” 

For the word of Yahweh has become for me 
A reproach and a jibe all the day long. 


So I said to myself, “I will not remember him, 
Nor will I speak any longer in his name.” 

But he was in my heart like a burning fire, 
Shut up within my bones. 

And I was tired of enduring, 

And was unable. 


For I heard the whispers of many, ‘Terror from every side’; 
“Announce and we will denounce him,” 
All the men of my acquaintance, 
Who keep by my side. 
“Perchance, he will be snared and we may prevail over him, 
And take our vengeance upon him.” 


t Jer. 19:1, 2, 10-124, 14, 15. 2 Jer. 20: 1-3. 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL 147 


But Yahweh is with me like a terrible warrior. 

Therefore my pursuers will stumble and will not prevail. 
They will be thoroughly ashamed for they will not succeed; 
Their perpetual disgrace will not be forgotten. 


From that height of assurance, Jeremiah fell into the 
depths of despondency, uttering, in 20:14-18, a curse 
upon the day of his birth which furnished the suggestion 
for the similar curse in Job, chapter 3. 

Somewhere about 600 B.c. Jehoiakim listened to the 
voice of the siren and joined the movement of revolt 
against Nebuchadrezzar. At first, Nebuchadrezzar sent 
only his vassal kings against Judah, but he finally ap- 
peared on the scene himself. Meantime, Jehoiakim had 
died and been succeeded by his son Jehoiachin. He was 
forced to surrender himself and his capital, after a siege of 
three months, to the Babylonians in 597 B.c., and was 
deported with all the leaders of the population to Baby- 
lon.2 From the earlier days of the siege comes the narra- 
tive recorded in Jeremiah, chapter 35. A band of Rech- 
abites had taken refuge in Jerusalem from before the 
advancing army of Babylonians. Jeremiah went down to 
the Temple court with them, and there in the sight of 
the onlooking crowd offered them wine to drink. This 
they declined, alleging that they were so obligated to do 
by a vow taken by their founder who had bound his fol- 
lowers to the observance of the simple life of the nomads. 
Jeremiah at once turned this episode to use against his 
countrymen by contrasting the faithfulness of the Recha- 
bites to the wish of their founder with the faithlessness 
of the people of Judah who pay no heed to their obliga- 
tions of loyalty to Yahweh. Consequently, all of Yah- 


t Jer. 20: 7-11. 2IT Kings, chap. 24. 


148 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


weh’s threats of punishment upon Judah will be fulfilled, 
while the Rechabites will continue in peace and prosperity 
forever. What Jeremiah thought of Jehoiachin is plainly 
stated in Jer. 22:24-30, when he predicted for him per- 
manent exile from his land and the cessation of his dy- 
nasty with himself. In fact, Jehoiachin’s successor was 
Zedekiah, his uncle on his father’s side.* 

Shortly after 597 B.c., Jeremiah related another vision 
that he had received (chap. 24). In this, he likened the 
people of Judah to two baskets of figs. The exiles in 
Babylon were like good figs, while the inhabitants of 
Judah and Jerusalem, left behind by Nebuchadrezzar, 
were represented by a basket of rotten figs. In this bold 
fashion, Jeremiah declared that the future of the people 
of Yahweh was in the hands of the exiles, who in due time 
would return to their homes, while nothing but ruin and 
death awaited the people in Jerusalem and Judah. This is 
noteworthy as Jeremiah’s first utterance of hope for a 
future of his people. It is noteworthy, too, that he con- 
ceived of that future as dependent upon the exiles, and 
not the stay-at-homes. This is a testimony to the prac- 
tical sense of Jeremiah. He was not prejudiced in favor of 
the strong and wealthy; he took the part of the poor and 
helpless when necessary, even as the rest of the prophets 
had done. But he was keen enough to know that no na- 
tion could be built up out of the poorest and weakest of 
the land.? He recognized the necessity of enterprise, abil- 
ity, and character; and he knew that these qualities were 
more largely represented among the exiles than among the 
people left behind. Not only so, but the survivors of the 
land were apparently unduly puffed up by the fact that 

™II Kings 24:17. 2 I Kings 24:14-16. 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL 149 


they had escaped exile. They were rejoicing over the 
escape of Jerusalem from destruction, and were congratu- 
lating themselves that Yahweh could be counted upon to 
defend his city and people. It is not unlikely that they 
were even blaming the exiles for their misfortune, saying 
that they were being thus punished for their gross sins and 
inferring for themselves great piety since they had not 
been carried away! To such a state of mind Jeremiah’s 
diagnosis of the situation would come with a great shock. 

Out of the same recognition of the importance of the 
exilic group came a letter written to them by Jeremiah 
shortly after their arrival in Babylonia.’ In this letter 
Jeremiah urged upon the exiles the necessity of dismissing 
from their minds any thought of an early return home, 
assuring them that the captivity would continue for an 
extended period of time. Therefore the sensible and the 
loyal thing to be done was to establish for themselves in 
Babylonia a normal type of life, making homes for them- 
selves, raising families, and entering fully into the com- 
mercial life of the land. It is characteristic of Jeremiah’s 
clear mind that he counseled them to co-operate in every 
way with the native population, and so in furthering the 
general prosperity they would be contributing most effec- 
tively to their own well-being. He declared that Yahweh 
had not forsaken them, but that even in Babylonia he 
would hearken unto them if they sincerely sought him. 
He was also certain that Yahweh would restore his people 
to their own land in due time, but he denounced those 
shallow-minded prophets who had gone with the exiles 
and were buoying them up with false hopes of a speedy 
return and so preventing them from taking up seriously 


t Jeremiah, chap. 20. 


I50 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


the responsibilities of their new situation. This letter 
seems to have brought a vigorous reply from a leader of 
the exiled community in the form of a protest to the chief 
priest in Jerusalem to the effect that it was his official 
duty to silence a man like Jeremiah by putting him in 
prison. When this letter was read publicly in Jeremiah’s 
hearing, he branded Shemaiah, its writer, as a rebel against 
Yahweh, and predicted the extermination of his family." 

The same restlessness and unwillingness to accept 
docilely a condition of continuing vassalage to Babylon 
were prevalent in Judah and throughout the adjacent 
regions. Plots and conspiracies were on foot to strike once 
more for freedom. In the fourth year of Zedekiah, dele- 
gates from Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon appeared in 
Jerusalem to arrange for such a joint uprising. Thereupon 
Jeremiah felt himself moved to make yokes and bands 
and to present them to these messengers that they might 
carry them back to their masters. With these symbols of 
subjection, he sent also an interpretative message, which 
was meant quite as much for Zedekiah and his advisers as 
it was for the conspiring kings, to the effect that the only 
safe and sane policy for all of Western Asia was to accept 
the overlordship of Nebuchadrezzar and serve him loy- 
ally. This would insure protection: and security; any 
attempt to defy him would mean exile and captivity for 
those who tried it. Furthermore, in accepting the lordship 
of Nebuchadrezzar they were conforming to the plan of 
Yahweh, who had given the peoples of Western Asia into 
his hands.” Jeremiah spared no pains to keep his country 
from plunging into a suicidal revolt. He pressed his views 

‘ler, 207323/CL.t vase ert. 

2 Jer. 27:1-11. “Jehoiakim” in 27: 1 is an error for “Zedekiah” ; see vs. 3. 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL I51 


upon king, priests, and people, declaring that submission 
to Nebuchadrezzar was the only possible escape from fur- 
ther calamity and destruction." 

One of the most powerful groups opposed to Jeremiah 
at this time consisted of the prophets of his day. These 
men were unanimously in support of the spirit of revolt. 
Even after the first deportation they were convinced, both 
in Babylonia and in Judah, that Yahweh would intervene 
marvelously and speedily bring his people back home. In 
chapter 28 is recorded Jeremiah’s encounter with a repre- 
sentative of this group in the presence of the priests and 
the people in the Temple. Jeremiah had gone down to the 
Temple with a yoke upon his neck, thus symbolizing the 
necessity of Judah’s accepting placidly the yoke of Nebu- 
chadrezzar. Hananiah, the prophet, was preaching a mes- 
sage of hope, declaring that it was Yahweh’s plan to re- 
store Judah within at most two years by bringing back the 
exiles and all the furnishings of the Temple. Jeremiah re- 
sponded to this by saying that he desired such an outcome 
as much as anybody else did, but that the people would do 
well to think a little before accepting such a view. Then 
turning to Hananiah, he said: 


Hear, now, this word that I speak in your hearing, and in the 
hearing of all the people: The prophets who were before you and 
before me in the past prophesied against many countries and 
against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. But 
the prophet who prophesies of prosperity—when the word of such 
a prophet comes to pass, the prophet shall be known, that Yahweh 
has really sent him. 


Thereupon Hananiah countered by taking Jeremiah’s 
yoke and breaking it in the sight of the crowd and saying 


“er. 27:12-22. 


152 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


that in like manner Yahweh would break the yoke im- 
posed by Babylon. 

‘“‘And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.”’ He could 
do nothing else effectively. As a wise man he left the 
scene. What did he think? Did he perhaps question the 
validity of his own judgment? After all, perhaps, Hana- 
niah might be in the right? Jeremiah knew too well that 
he himself was not infallible. Had he really heard the 
word of Yahweh? But as thoughts like these succeeded 
one another in his mind, there came to him again with 
new power the conviction that he, and not Hananiah, had 
spoken the truth. Later, on the same day, perhaps, he 
returned to face his opponent and said to him: 

You have broken the wooden yokes, 

But you will make in their stead iron yokes. 
Then he turned upon Hananiah himself and predicted his 
death within the year as punishment for his false proph- 
ecy, and within two months Hananiah died. There is no 
reason to doubt this statement. Cases of such foreknowl- 
edge are not unknown, though they are inexplicable. Such 
a story is more likely to be true than to have been in- 
vented. The fact of Hananiah’s death was probably too 
well known to escape mention. 

Two things are of special note in the foregoing epi- 
sode. First, the fact that Jeremiah’s statement that the 
history of prophecy knew of no prophets of prosperity, 
but that the unbroken tradition of prophecy was the 
preaching of disaster. Second, the fact that his test of the 
validity of a prophecy lay simply in the answer to the 
question as to whether or not it agreed with the trend of 
prophetic preaching in the past. The past had known 
only prophets of woe; there had been no heralds of hope. 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL 153 


This statement was unchallenged by Hananiah. Would it 
not have been a fatal blow to Jeremiah’s message if he 
could have cited such prophecies as Isa. 9: 1-17; 11: 1-9} 
Mic. 5:2-6? He and his friends certainly would have 
known if such prophecies had been extant. Did Jere- 
miah leave no room for prophecies of hope in the future? 
He made conformity to the past the test of true prophecy, 
and his past was a hopeless one. But yet he himself 
prophesied deliverance when such a message was needed. 
In his letter to the exiles, as we have seen, he held out the 
certain hope of a return from exile. He evidently had no 
intention of laying down a hard and fast law for prophecy. 
He would leave it free to adjust its message to the needs 
of the changing generations. We any case, that is what the 
prophets did. 

In spite of Jeremiah’s warnings and protests, Zedekiah 
entered into the revolt against Babylon, and soon found 
the Babylonian army at his front door. Thereupon he 
sent messengers to Jeremiah to learn what Yahweh was 
purposing to do for his people. Jeremiah’s answer was to 
the effect that the city and the king would fall into the 
hands of Nebuchadrezzar, and that the only salvation for 
the people was to desert to the Babylonians. At this same 
time Jeremiah is represented as having assured Zedekiah 
that he would die in peace and receive honorable burial.” 
As a matter of fact, Zedekiah was blinded by Nebu- 
chadrezzar and carried captive to Babylon.’ The last 
sight upon which his eyes rested was the execution of his 
twosons. Was Jeremiah again mistaken? It is more prob- 
able that the narrator of Jeremiah’s words failed to give 

t Jeremiah, chap. 21. 

a) Jer. 3431-5. 3 II Kings 25:7; Ezek. 12:13. 


154 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


his statement the conditional form in which Jeremiah al- 
most certainly made it. It is incredible that Jeremiah 
should have made such an unconditional promise of safety 
to Zedekiah after all that Zedekiah had done in violation 
of the prophet’s advice and warning." 

In the early course of the siege, an army from Egypt 
approached to relieve Jerusalem from the Babylonian 
pressure. Thereupon, the Babylonian army withdrew in 
order to meet the new foe.? Some time earlier in the 
course of the siege, Zedekiah had issued a decree, with the 
consent of the slave-owners, granting liberty to all He- 
brew slaves. But when the Babylonian army withdrew 
temporarily, the slave-owners made haste to possess 
themselves again of their former slaves. At this the 
anger of Jeremiah blazed forth against these rich and 
unscrupulous oppressors. He cited the law to them and 
told them that they and their king would all fall into the 
hands of the Babylonians who would burn their city with 
fire.4 After the departure of the Babylonians, Jeremiah 
was visited by an embassy from Jehoiakim who wished to 
know whether or not the Babylonians would return. Jere- 
miah in the strongest possible terms declared that the 
Egyptians would retreat in flight and that the Baby- 
lonians would renew the siege and retake the city.5 There- 
upon, he sought to leave Jerusalem in order to visit some 
landed property which he possessed in Benjamin. But he 
was arrested at the city gate and charged with an attempt 
to desert to the Babylonians. This he flatly denied, but 


t See Cornill’s discussion of this oracle, where this point is strongly 
presented. 

a ers 7 25: 4 Jer. 34: 12-22. 

3 Jer. 34:8-11. 5 Jer. 37:3-10. 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL 155 


in vain; for he was cast into prison by order of the govern- 
ment.? There he remained for some time, until Zedekiah 
sent for him privately and asked once more for a word 
from Yahweh. Jeremiah told him again that he would be 
captured by Nebuchadrezzar. Then Jeremiah besought 
the king for relief from the hard conditions of his im- 
prisonment and obtained permission to be placed in a 
more airy and spacious prison, where an order was given 
for his daily food so long as food was left in the city.? 

About a year before the fall of the city, Jeremiah’s 
faith in the future of his country was put to a severe test. 
A message was brought to him in prison by his nephew 
that he was desirous of selling a piece of land in Anathoth; 
and that, since the right of redemption belonged to Jere- 
miah as nearest of kin, he was giving Jeremiah the first 
chance to buy the field. Jeremiah recognized the signifi- 
cance of this occasion and treated it as a word of God 
to himself. He at once accepted the offer and had the 
deed prepared in duplicate, properly signed, witnessed, 
sealed, and filed away. After doing this, Jeremiah seems 
to have had some doubts about the wisdom of the ac- 
tion. He presented his doubts and fears to Yahweh, and 
was encouraged by the renewed assurance that after the 
exile there would be a return and restoration, so that once 
more fields would be bought and sold in Judah as of old. 
Had Jeremiah refused this opportunity to demonstrate 
in this practical way his faith in Yahweh and in the future 
value of real estate in Judah, his preaching of hope and 
promises of restoration would have been worse than use- 
less. 

lets. 3721-15. 

ayer. 37216-21. 3 Jeremiah, chap. 32. 


156 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Worse treatment yet was in store for Jeremiah. The 
princes and officers strenuously engaged in the defense of 
the city were of course not pleased by Jeremiah’s out- 
spoken advice to the men of the city to desert to the 
Babylonians. So they protested to Zedekiah against the 
liberty of speech accorded to Jeremiah, and they ob- 
tained authority from the king to do with Jeremiah as 
they would. Thereupon they cast him into a dungeon in 
the prison yard in which the mud was deep and where he 
was without food. When this was reported to Zedekiah 
by Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch, the king ordered 
the Ethiopian to take a guard, pull Jeremiah out of the 
mire, and let him loose in the prison yard.' Soon after, 
Zedekiah again sent for Jeremiah and held a secret inter- 
view with him in which he asked Jeremiah’s advice and 
guaranteed him immunity from attack by the princes of 
the court. Jeremiah urged upon Zedekiah absolute sur- 
render to Babylon, which would bring him escape from 
death, and warned him that continuance in resistance 
would mean utter ruin for himself, the city, and the peo- 
ple. Then the king pledged Jeremiah to silence regarding 
the real content of the interview, and arranged that he 
should tell the princes that he had sought an interview 
with the king in order to plead for better treatment for 
himself. Jeremiah assented to this, and so reported when 
the princes questioned him on the matter. Here it is nec- 
essary to admit that Jeremiah told a downright lie. The 
excuse for it, if not the justification, is quite obvious. If 
Jeremiah had told the truth, he would in all probability 
have lost his life, and so have been denied the privilege of 


t Jeremiah did not forget the kindness of Ebed-melech; see Jer. 39: 
15-18. 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL . = 157 


any further service to his country. Not only so, but the 
princes, who were the real masters of the situation, Zede- 
kiah being a weakling in their hands} would undoubtedly 
have proceeded to further violent measures and would 
have done away with or at least dethroned Zedekiah, and 
have put one of their own party on the throne in his place. 
This might have added the horrors of civil war to the 
terrors of the siege. In view of the dread possibilities of 
telling the truth and the likelihood that the people as a 
whole would suffer still more than they would under Zede- 
kiah, it is no wonder that Jeremiah concealed the facts. 
Finally the city fell. Not until starvation had done its 
deadly work did its heroic defenders give way. There was 
no weak surrender, but a stubborn resistance to the bitter 
end. The Babylonians broke through the wall, seized the 
city, and caught the fleeing king in the vicinity of Jericho. 
The fate of city and king is described in Jeremiah, chap- 
ter 39. The Babylonians at once released Jeremiah from 
his prison and put him under the charge of ‘‘Gedaliah 
the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; so he dwelt among 
the people.’’* Here he remained in peace for a few months, 
while many Jews who had fled from their country during 
the campaign returned home and gathered around Ged- 
aliah, the new governor. Perhaps during this period of 
relative peace and quiet, Jeremiah produced the greatest 
utterance accredited to him, the prophecy of the new 


Jer. 39:11-14. Another story, of later origin, represents the Baby- 
lonians as carrying Jeremiah in chains with the rest of the captives as 
far as Ramah, where he was released and given the choice of going to 
Babylon under royal favor or of staying in Judah with the stricken people. 
Jeremiah chose the latter course, and was sent away with a supply of 
provisions and a present of money to join Gedaliah, the governor of 
Judah, appointed by Babylon (Jer. 40:1-6). 


158 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


covenant.’ Herein Jeremiah penetrated deeply into the 
nature of religion, declaring that no external law would 
control the lives of the children of the coming Kingdom 
of God, but that Yahweh would write his laws upon the 
tablets of the hearts of his people, so that they would 
find themselves under an inner compulsion to walk in the 
ways of Yahweh. This is the nearest that the Old Testa- 
ment writers come to the idea of the new birth, or regen- 
eration. It is noteworthy, however, that Jeremiah did not 
contemplate this as a part of the existing order, but as 
characteristic of the new Golden Age or Kingdom of God 
to which he looked forward. 

The peace after the surrender was soon broken by 
partisan strife, murder, and civil war.? The survivors of 
this internecine strife set out to flee into Egypt, being 
afraid of the vengeance of the Babylonians. But before 
taking the final step, they consulted Jeremiah and assured 
him that they would do whatsover Yahweh should com- 
mand. After ten days of meditation, Jeremiah reported 
that it was Yahweh’s will that they should stay in Judah 
where his blessing would rest upon them, but that if they 
should fly to Egypt they would die by sword, famine, and 
pestilence.’ They replied to this that Jeremiah was not 
speaking Yahweh’s word but was serving merely as the 
mouthpiece of Baruch. Consequently, they defied Jere- 
miah and fled into Egypt, taking the people with them 
and forcing Jeremiah to accompany them. Jeremiah upon 
arrival in Egypt prophesied dramatically that Nebu- 
chadrezzar would conquer Egypt, thus rendering their 
flight thither utterly futile;4 and he proceeded to reiterate 

‘Jer. 215 31-3A. 3 Jeremiah, chap. 42. 

2 Jeremiah, chap. 41. 4 Jeremiah, chap. 43. 


JEREMIAH AND JERUSALEM’S FALL 159 


against the Jews in Egypt the type of denunciation and 
threat they had been used to hear from him in Jerusalem.! 

The last appearance of Jeremiah, of which we have 
record, is recorded in Jer. 44:15-30. Jeremiah’s chief 
charge against his people from the beginning of his career 
had been that they were disloyal to Yahweh in that they 
were worshiping other gods. Indeed, on one occasion he is 
represented as having said: “‘According to the number of 
your cities are your gods, O Israel.’ One of these many 
deities was the occasion of this episode. The people pro- 
tested against Jeremiah’s message in denunciation of their 
worship of other gods, and the women told him that as a 
matter of fact the country had prospered as long as they 
had worshiped the ‘“‘queen of the heavens,’”’ but that since 
they had ceased doing so all manner of misfortune had 
befallen Judah and its people. Therefore they proposed to 
continue the worship of the ‘‘queen of the heavens” in 
spite of all he might say. This implies clearly that the 
Jews had worshiped this goddess of old, probably prior to 
the Deuteronomic reform, and that the cessation of that 
worship was a relatively recent thing. What a depth of 
spiritual darkness in the minds of the masses is revealed 
by this controversy! To what a high level the prophets 
were striving to elevate their people! A contemplation of 
the ignorance, sensuousness, and superstition of the peo- 
ple might well have plunged the prophets into despair. 
But they were incurably hopeful in the best sense. They 
never ceased their efforts to educate and free their people 
from their enthralment to the traditions of the past and to 
point out to them the better way. Jeremiah responded to 
this defiant attitude of his people by threatening Jewry in 


x Jer. 44: 1-14. * Jer: 28: 3 Jer. 44: 15-10. 


160 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Egypt with the same kind of disaster that had befallen 
Judah and Jerusalem." 

So we leave Jeremiah, an exile in a strange land, sur- 
rounded by his own people who have refused to learn any- 
thing from their tragic experiences and resent all efforts on 
his part to teach them. He isa homeless, helpless, solitary 
soul—an idealist in the midst of a materialistic genera- 
tion. He has lost everything, property, home, country, 
and hope—everything but his own soul. He was misun- 
derstood, unappreciated, persecuted, and imprisoned by 
his contemporaries, only to be taken up by history and 
given the place of honor in the goodly fellowship of the 
prophets. 

t Jer. 44:24-26. The end of chap. 44 predicts the return of a few 
Jews from Egypt to Judah and the death of Pharaoh-Hophra as a captive 
in the hands of his foes. Pharaoh’s death in 564 B.c. is shrouded in 


mystery; but these words were written after that event by later editors; 
see commentaries, ad loc. 


CHAPTER X 


THE FATHER OF JUDAISM 


The Book of Ezekiel records the activity of Ezekiel be- 
tween July, 593 B.c., and April, 571 B.c. The materials 
constituting the book are for the most part arranged in 
chronological order, though the last date given in the book 
is found in 29:17. The book falls naturally into three 
parts: (1) the prophecies against Judah uttered before 
586 B.C., viz., chapters 1-24; (2) the oracles against the 
foreign nations, viz., chapters 25-32, spoken for the most 
part between 588 and 586 B.c.; and (3) the promises for 
the future, viz., chapters 33-48, uttered between 585 and 
573 B.C. Ezekiel himself was a priest who was carried 
captive in 597 B.c. In Babylonia his priestly occupation 
was gone, but being a profoundly religious man, he could 
not cease thinking about religion and the problem of the 
exile; and so he soon found himself functioning as a proph- 
et. But when he became a prophet he did not cease to be 
a priest in spirit, with the natural result that his prophecy 
is to a great extent couched in priestly terms and domi- 
nated by priestly interests. With all this, there went also 
a deeply mystical temperament. He was subject to sud- 
den attacks of ‘‘the hand of Yahweh.’ The common ex- 
pression for a revelation from Yahweh in Ezekiel is ‘‘the 
word of Yahweh came unto me,” but in 1:3 it is signifi- 
cant that this expression is supplemented or interpreted 
by the phrase, “the hand of Yahweh was there upon him.”’ 


BieZeKs £o4) 3.14, 22; 0:15:33: 22; 37515 40: 2% 
161 


162 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


The interpretation of some episodes in Ezekiel’s experi- 
ence is greatly facilitated by an adequate recognition of 
the place of ecstasy and trance or vision in Ezekiel’s 
prophetic activity.” 

In terms of such mystical and trancelike states, we 
may understand the initial vision of chapters 1-3. The 
extraordinary figure described in chapter 1 is.such as 
never was on land or sea. We have to choose between 
literary imagination or fiction, on the one hand, and 
actual vision, on the other. The latter alternative is by 
all odds the easier, and it saves the moral integrity of 
Ezekiel. He is not to be looked upon as claiming to have 
seen and heard things or sounds which, as a matter of 
fact, he never saw or heard at all. These things were reali- 
ties to him. In his ecstatic states he actually did see and 
hear what he reported to his people. The eating of the 
scroll in 2:9—3:5 is a detail easily understood upon this 
basis. The dazed condition in which Ezekiel remained for 
a week after this vision? is indicative of a state quite 
familiar in cases of ecstasy and trance.’ Similarly, the 
much-discussed action of the prophet in chapter 4, where 
he represents himself as ordered to lie upon his right side 
for three hundred and ninety days* and then upon his 
left side for forty days, is one readily comprehended as 


tSee H. W. Hines, “The Prophet as Mystic,” American Journal of 
Semitic Languages and Literatures, XL (1923), 37-71. Cf. H. Wheeler 
Robinson, “The Psychology and Metaphysic of “Thus Saith Yahweh,’ ” 
Zeitschrift fiir die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, XLI (1923), I-15. 

3 Kizek; 3:15. 

3 See Ezek. 3:26; 24:27; 29:21; 33:22, for other cases in Ezekiel’s 
own experience; and cf. H. W. Hines, of. cit., p. 52. 

4The figure given in the Greek translation is 190. This figure is _ 
probably due to the desire of literalists to bring the periods somewhat 
nearer the range of possibility. 


THE FATHER OF JUDAISM 163 


having taken place in a trance. In visionary experiences 
a day is with the visionary ‘‘as a thousand years and a 
thousand years as one day.”’ Most of us can recall dreams 
into which an incredible amount of activity, or period of 
time, has been crowded, though they lasted actually but 
a few seconds. 

The account, in chapters 8-11, of Ezekiel’s visit to 
Jerusalem, where he saw all the iniquitous practices going 
on in the Temple, and of his return through the power of 
the ‘‘spirit’’* is another narrative that gains immensely in 
intelligibility if interpreted as the record of a visionary 
experience. In this vision and in the ones recorded in 
chapters 37 and 40-48, the passage of the prophet for a 
longer or shorter distance through the air under the per- 
sonal direction of ‘‘the spirit” is involved. Such trance 
journeys are not unknown in the experiences of other 
mystics.? The actual content of ideas in these visions is 
composed of materials upon which the prophet had medi- 
tated many days, if not months and years, in his waking 
hours. The visions brought all of this thought and infor- 
mation to a focus. ‘Through these experiences the prophet 
was able to gather up and organize much that had been 
lying around loose in his consciousness, so to speak, for 
longer or shorter periods. In the white heat of intense 
preoccupation and emotion he fused these materials into 
unity, stamped them with the marks of his own person- 
ality, and sent them forth as coin of the prophetic realm. 

The state of mind among the Babylonian exiles be- 
tween 597 and 586 B.c. is clearly reflected in Ezekiel’s 
prophecies. We have already seen something of it through 
Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles’ and through the reaction to 

tEzek.8:3. ?See H.W. Hines, op. cit.,p.53. 3 Jeremiah, chap. 29. 


164 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Jeremiah’s message in Babylonia (see pp. 149f.). The 
prophets in general, both in Babylonia and in Palestine, 
fanatically preached a shallow gospel of prosperity.’ Both 
groups refused to believe a further destruction of Jeru- 
salem possible. They were skeptical toward Ezekiel’s 
message of destruction and openly scoffed at it.?, Because 
further punishment was not immediately inflicted, they 
derided Ezekiel’s threats and jeered at him. Those who 
still had faith in Yahweh and his power were banking up- 
on the piety of the good people of the past and present to 
save the country from destruction. The exiles were re- 
garded by the Jews of Jerusalem as outcasts, rejected by 
Yahweh because of their sins.‘ 

Others had been driven by the force of circumstances 
to doubt Yahweh and to criticize his administration of the 
moral order. ‘They were victims of the old philosophy of 
life that the children suffered for the sins of their parents, 
and they rebelled against it and bitterly resented its in- 
justice.s Some were taking refuge from their fears in a 
recourse to outworn superstitions.* Many were turning 
away from Yahweh and frankly taking up the worship of 
other gods, hoping thereby to ease their lot.? 

The nature of Ezekiel’s message prior to 586 B.c. was 
very definitely determined by the state of mind to which 
we have referred. He saw that the exiles were not as yet 
ready to accept the evident outcome of the existing situa- 
tion. They were being buoyed up by false hopes to ex- 
pect the impossible. He therefore set himself the task of 


* Ezek. 13:10, 16. 4 Ezek. 11:15 f. 
2 Ezek. 12: 21-28. § Ezek. 18:1 f., 25, 20; 8:12; 14:22f. 
3 Ezek. 14:12-20. 6 Ezek. 8:7—-14. 


7 Ezek. 6:4-6; 8:16; 14:1 ff.; 20:31 f. 


THE FATHER OF JUDAISM 165 


preparing them for what was to come. He kept con- 
stantly before them the necessity of the fall of Jerusalem. 
This was the great burden upon his soul during this pe- 
riod. Over and over again he reverted to it. One vision" 
is wholly devoted to picturing the destruction that is to 
befall Judah and Jerusalem in the form of pestilence, 
famine, war, and exile. Another? vividly portrays the 
iniquities going on in Jerusalem, and in the very Temple 
itself, which make the coming destruction inevitable. In 
chapter 12, Ezekiel is described as having symbolically 
represented the fall of Jerusalem by preparing a bundle of 
clothes and other necessary articles and carrying it forth 
into the public street for some little distance away from 
his house. Then in the early evening, he dug through the 
mud wall of his house and went forth through the opening 
with his bundle on his back. To the inquiring crowd he 
made answer the next morning to the effect that his ac- 
tions had been symbolical of the fate awaiting the king 
and the people of Jerusalem, who should be forced into 
exile and captivity. A second picture of the same fate was 
presented by him as he ate his food in haste and fear and 
drank water in the same terror-stricken fashion, thus 
bringing forcefully before the eyes of his people and vivid- 
ly to their memories tragic experiences through which 
they themselves had gone, the like of which were yet in 
store for the people of Judah and Jerusalem. 

The task of Ezekiel in opening the eyes of his people 
to their true situation was made much more difficult by 
the fact that there were other prophetic leaders who were 
encouraging the people to believe what they wanted to 
believe. These religious leaders had a tremendous advan- 

t Ezek. 3:22—5:17. 2 Ezekiel, chaps. 8-11. 


166 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


tage over Ezekiel, for they were preaching a popular 
message.’ Their message reflected glory upon Yahweh 
likewise in that its fulfilment would be an evidence of 
Yahweh’s power and love. These prophets could point 
the finger of scorn at Ezekiel and say that he had no faith 
in Yahweh and that he was no true patriot. Ezekiel was 
opposed also by a group of women prophets. These he 
denounced for certain practices that seem to have been 
highly superstitious, though their precise significance is 
not clear.? He charged all these false leaders with having 
been a source of weakness rather than of strength in the 
great Day of Yahweh that fell upon Jerusalem in the form 
of the first deportation of 597 B.c. In chapter 14, he again 
foretold the further destructive punishment and deporta- 
tion of the population of Jerusalem, adding the curiously 
ingenious touch which made a few survivors reach Baby- 
lonia as awful examples of the wickedness of the popula- 
tion of Jerusalem in general. When the Babylonian Jews 
should see how wicked these surviving Judean Jews were, 
they would recognize the justice of Yahweh in treating 
Jerusalem as he had done. The utter worthlessness of 
the Jerusalem community is vividly presented in the fig- 
urative language in chapter 15.3 

Ezekiel went beyond all his predecessors in his con- 
demnation of Judah. Earlier prophets had represented 
Israel as pure and faithful to Yahweh in the days of its 
youth, but as having gone astray after other gods upon the 
entry into Canaan. In chapter 16, Ezekiel declared that 
from birth Israel had been steeped in idolatry, having 
been born of idolatrous parents—Hittites and Amorites. 

1 Ezek. 13:1-16. 2-Ezek. 13717-23. 

3 Ezekiel, chap. 22, catalogues the sins of Judah in some detail. 


THE FATHER OF JUDAISM 167 


The terrible punishment through which Judah had gone, 
and the still more terrible that was yet to come, forced 
Ezekiel to take this point of view. The sin of Judah must 
be great in proportion to the disastrous punishment in- 
flicted and anticipated. Ezekiel could scarcely find lan- 
guage strong enough to express the guilt of Judah, and he 
finally did not shrink from saying that Sodom, Gomorrah, 
and Samaria were not so wicked as Judah had been.' It 
is interesting to note that notwithstanding the terrific 
arraignment of Judah in this bold figure, yet Ezekiel pro- 
ceeded at once to lay a foundation for the future. He dared 
to say that Yahweh would forgive Judah after her sins had 
been atoned for and she had become penitent, and would 
restore her to her own land. Not only so, but even Sodom, 
Gomorrah, and Samaria would be restored and re-estab- 
lished as children under the protection and guidance of 
Judah. This same note of hope and promise sounds again 
in Ezek. 20:33-44,? where Judah is assured of a restora- 
tion, but only after a period of severe chastisement. 

In the first half of chapter 20, Ezekiel surveys the 
history of Israel from the beginning in Egypt, showing 
how Israel had rebelled against Yahweh in Egypt and 
been forgiven by him for his name’s sake, and how the 
same experience had been repeated in the desert and again 
in Canaan itself. In this connection a most extraordinary 
statement is made by the prophet. He declares that the 
past legislation of Israel has not been good, that it has 
commanded them to sacrifice their first-born, and that 
these evil statutes have been imposed upon them by Yah- 
weh himself “that they might know that I am Yahweh.’” 

t Ezekiel, chap. 23, follows the same line of thought as chap. 16. 

2 See also Ezek. 11:17-21; 14:10, 11; 17: 22-24. 3 Ezek. 20: 23-26. 


168 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


As a matter of fact, the command to sacrifice the first- 
born of man does actually appear in the oldest form of the 
legislation, just as was the case with the first-born of 
oxen.’ Later these barbaric customs of the earliest period 
were softened.? Ezekiel, as a priest, knew the history of 
the ritual and felt the necessity of offering an explanation 
of the old custom. His apology is startling, indeed. Yah- 
weh ordered the institution of the sacrifice of children in 
order to punish his people through its operation and bring 
them to a realization of his power. It should be remem- 
bered that Ezekiel was but carrying on a point of view 
common in earlier days;3 and also that he and his con- 
temporaries had no Satan to step in and relieve both Yah- 
weh and Israel in part, at least, from the responsibility 
for sin. In any case, this statute was a part of the “law” 
and could not be assigned to any other authority than 
Yahweh himself. It is quite clear that Ezekiel’s horror of 
human sacrifice was so great that he preferred almost any-. 
thing to the acceptance of it as an institution still in force 
by divine right. 

While preaching unsparingly the necessity of further 
punishment for Judah and Jerusalem, Ezekiel was not 
blind to the ethical problem raised in many minds by the 
conditions of the times. Attention is devoted to it in 
Ezek. 3:16-21 and 18:1-32. The current discontent was 
ironically expressed in the saying: “The fathers ate sour 
grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’’4 The 
meaning, of course, was that the sons were suffering for 
the sins of their parents. More particularly, the generally 

t Exod. 22:29), 30; 34:10; Cf. 13/12. 

2 Exod. 13:13; 34: 200. 

3 See, e.g., II Sam. 24:1 ff., and Exod. 9:12; ro:1. 4 Ezek. 18:2. 


THE FATHER OF JUDAISM 169 


accepted explanation of the sufferings of the times was 
found in the excessively sinful reign of king Manasseh.* 
Yet there was a growing consciousness and conviction 
that such an administration of the moral order was not 
fair to the children. Men were saying: ““The way of Yah- 
weh is not fair.”? Jeremiah and Ezekiel alike had been 
insisting that the sins of their own generation were so 
atrocious that they did not need to look any farther back 
than their own day for an explanation of the punishment 
they were undergoing. Now Ezekiel came to closer grips 
with the issue. He denied outright the doctrine of the 
social solidarity of the generations. He maintained firmly 
that each man should bear the penalty of his own sin 
and reap the reward of his own righteousness. ‘‘He that 
sins, Ae will die,” and ‘The just, he will surely live.’ 
Every man’s fate is in his own hands. It is his to live or 
die as he will. Hence the prophet closes his case with a 
fervent appeal to his people: 
Turn and return from all your transgressions, 
That guilt may not be your ruin. 
Put away from you all your transgressions wherein you have 
transgressed, 

And make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit; 
For wherefore should you die, O house of Israel? 
For I have no satisfaction in the death of one who dies; 
It is the oracle of the Lord Yahweh. 
Therefore, turn yourselves and live.4 

This is the first clear statement in Hebrew history of 
the idea that each individual is responsible before God for 
his own life, and that no one else can determine his fate 

™TI Kings 23:26. 2 Ezek. 18:25, 20. 

3 Ezek. 18:4, 9, 13, 17£., 20ff. 

4 Ezek. 18: 30-32. Cf. also Ezek. 33:1-20. 


170 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


for him. Naturally, Ezekiel being the first to formulate 
this doctrine, and being driven to it by the reaction of his 
age against the conception of family and group solidarity, 
overstated his case and pushed it too far.‘ He did not 
reckon sufficiently with social forces and with heredity, 
but pulled the individual out of his environment and made 
him stand or fall by himself alone. This is contrary to all 
human experience. As a matter of fact, Ezekiel did not 
drop the social solidarity point of view himself in its en- 
tirety. His conception of the future of the people of God 
was formulated in terms of group life. At least on one 
occasion he failed to apply his new individualism himself 
to the situation of his day, and represented righteous and 
wicked as perishing together.” The old solidarity point of 
view continued to function, as a matter of fact, unto the 
end of Hebrew national history. 

The last oracle against Jerusalem was delivered in 
January of the year 588 B.c., on the day that the final 
siege of Jerusalem began. The prophet used the figure 
of a pot boiling upon the fire. This pot is taken off the 
fire and removed, after which it is placed over the flames 
again and burned clean of its scum and filth. Thus the 
prophet sought to show that the exiles had been removed 
and placed out of danger, while the present population of 
Jerusalem was destined to undergo further punishment in 
the doomed city. In the same chapter we find the account 
of the death of Ezekiel’s wife and the use he made of that 
tragic experience. Feeling himself called upon by Yahweh 


t See J. M. Powis Smith, The Prophet and His Problems (1914), chap. 
vii; cf. M. Lohr, Sozialismus und Individualismus im Alten Testament 
(1906); H. Gunkel, in Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Vol. III 
(1912). 

2 Ezekiel, chap. 5. 3 Ezek. 24:1 f. 


THE FATHER OF JUDAISM VE 


to make this event an occasion for an object-lesson to his 
people, he accepted the death in silence, ignored all the 
customary procedure on such occasions, and so aroused 
the curious questions of his neighbors as to what he meant 
by such unheard-of conduct. He turns upon them with 
the interpretation that they will act in like manner when 
the news of the downfall of their beloved capital shall 
reach them. They will be too dazed and overcome with 
horror to go through with the petty little ceremonies of 
conventional mourning. Their grief will be past all power 
of expression and utterly inconsolable. 

The next section of Ezekiel’s book concerns himself 
with the oracles against the foreign nations. The peoples 
denounced are Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia;? 
Tyre and Sidon;? and Egypt. These prophecies fall for 
the most part into the period between 588 and 585 B.c. 
The prophecies are motivated by a desire for the punish- 
ment of those who have gloated over the troubles and 
disasters of Judah. They reflect the conviction that Baby- 
lon is to dominate the civilized world. They gloat over 
the downfall of Egypt, which is represented as cast down 
to Sheol where she is surrounded by the lesser peoples, 
Assyria, Elam, Meshech, Tubal, Edom, and Sidon. They 
give a most detailed and informing description of the 
world-wide commercial activity of Tyre. Edom calls 
forth the bitter hatred of the prophet, who gives Israel 
the promise of wreaking vengeance upon Edom with her 
own hands. Israel itself is entitled to hope for a future 
return to its own land.’ Perhaps most significant of all is 

t Ezekiel, chap. 25. 3 Ezekiel, chaps. 29-32. 

2 Ezekiel, chaps. 26-28. 4 Ezekiel, chaps. 27-23. 

5 Ezeky 20:25 1.5 20722. 


172 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


the fact that Babylon’s wickedness is never mentioned, 
nor is any punishment threatened against the: mighty 
mistress of the world. The prophets were not wholly lack- 
ing in worldly wisdom! These prophecies against the 
heathen were, on the one hand, a source of satisfaction 
and comfort to the outraged feelings of the exiles, and, on 
the other hand, they gave some assurance that the justice 
and honor of Yahweh would be vindicated against those 
peoples who had laughed him to scorn. 

The final section of the Book of Ezekiel falls into two 
sections: (1) chapters 33-39, containing some things that 
are preliminary to the dawn of the new era, and (2) chap- 
ters 40-48, giving the detailed program of the arrange- 
ments of the coming messianic age. A notable change 
now appeared in Ezekiel’s preaching. Whereas prior to 
the final downfall of Jerusalem he had been constantly 
emphasizing the wickedness of Judah and the consequent 
necessity of further punishment, now that the city has 
fallen, he just as constantly emphasizes the thought of a 
coming deliverance from exile, and the dawn of a glorious 
future. Such a change of message was needed. The peo- 
ple’s faith had been too largely centered in the persist- 
ence of Jerusalem as the city of Yahweh, and the effect of 
its actual fall was well-nigh crushing. They were brought 
by the contemplation of this disaster to a recognition of 
the sinfulness of the nation that was likely to rob them 
of all hope.’ It was the existence of such a state of mind 
that caused Ezekiel to relate the vision recorded in chap- 
ter 37. The force of the argument is that just as Yahweh 
is able to raise the dead bodies of individuals to life again, 
so will he also raise up the dead nation to a renewed life. 

t Cf, Ezek. 33:10 f.; 37:22. 


THE FATHER OF JUDAISM bye) 


They believe in the resurrection of the body; why not 
believe also in Yahweh’s promise of the resurrection of 
the nation? The prophet himself is convinced of it, and 
uses every possible device to create a similar confidence 
in the hearts of his people. He likewise assures them that 
in the coming days Judah and Israel, carried captive in 
721 B.C., are both to be restored to the homeland and to 
be reunited as one people serving Yahweh together under 
a king from the house of David. This restored people is 
to be a regenerated people In whom Yahweh shall have 
implanted a new heart.? The motive of the restoration on 
Yahweh’s part is ‘that the nations may know that I am 
Yahweh.’ To this end the nations of the earth are to fall 
by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Israel. Gog, of the 
land of Magog, will gather all the peoples of the earth and 
lead them against the Kingdom of Yahweh. In the land 
of Israel, Yahweh will turn loose upon Gog and his hosts 
all the fearful, destructive agencies at his command. It 
will not be necessary for Israel to strike a blow; the vic- 
tory will be wrought by Yahweh’s own might alone. All 
that will remain for Israel to do will be the task of clear- 
ing up the battlefield and burying the dead. This was a 
genuinely apocalyptic vision. Gog is presented as the 
long-looked-for foe threatened by the prophets of old.4 
The noteworthy thing about these oracles against the 
nations and these glowing promises for Israel is that at 
the time they were uttered there was no visible sign of the 
likelihood of any of these things coming to pass. They 
were hopes resting upon no outer basis of material sup- 

t Ezek. 37:15-28. 2 Ezek. 36:25 ff. 

$Ezek, 36:22, 32; 38:16, 23; 39:6, 7, 27, 28. 

4 Ezek. 38:17. 


174 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


port. The prophet challenges his people to a daring 
achievement of faith. He might almost have said with a 
later saint: “‘Credo quia incredtbile est.’’ He believed that 
Yahweh could do anything that ought to be done, and 
to set himself right in the eyes of the nations he must 
restore Israel and bring the nations to their knees. Ezekiel 
lauched forth upon an unknown sea, and possessed of an 
invincible idealism confidently summoned his fellow-exiles 
to follow his lead. His faith in Yahweh knew no bounds. 
The last section of Ezekiel’s prophecies is dated from 
the year 573-572 B.c. It was written apparently after a 
period of silence lasting for twelve years. It consists of a 
body of legislation seen by the prophet in a vision and 
based quite evidently in large part upon his own former 
experience and observation as a priest in the Temple. 
This legislation constitutes the program of life for the 
citizens of the approaching messianic age. The outstand- 
ing element in it is ritualistic; the conception of life that 
shines through all its enactments is that represented by 
the priesthood. The program provides for the reconstruc- 
tion of the Temple, full details for which are furnished; 
the altar receives special attention in this connection.” 
The rules and regulations controlling the organization and 
duties of the priesthood fill chapter 44. The details of 
various duties and of the ritual of offerings, together with 
laws controlling the Sabbath, holy days, and the like 
occupy 45:9—46:24. The description of the River of Life 
which is to flow forth from the Temple-mount and de- 
scend to the Dead Sea, fructifying the intervening land 
and changing that life-destroying sea into a fresh-water 
lake, makes 47:1-12 an interesting bit of imaginative 
t Ezek. 40:I—43:12. 2 hzek. 43:13-27. 


THE FATHER OF JUDAISM 175 


writing. The new allotment of the land of Canaan is given 
much attention. The dominating thought throughout all 
this code is the idea of the holiness of Yahweh. The whole 
scheme is wrought out in such a way as to guard that 
holiness from contamination by contact with any profane 
object. This is seen in the location and environment of 
the Temple. It appears in the sharp distinction made here 
for the first time between the priests and Levites. The 
priests in the new era are to be the sons of Zadok only? 
These were the descendants of the former priests in Jeru- 
salem. The Levites were not permitted to perform the 
functions of a priest because they had degraded and de- 
filed themselves by serving as priests at the local sanc- 
tuaries throughout the land. The future name of the holy 
city is to be “Yahweh-shammah,” ie., ‘Yahweh is 
there.”’ 

Ezekiel has been called the father of Judaism because 
he exercised so profound an influence upon all the later 
religious life. He emphasized ritualistic measures and 
methods as no prophet heretofore had dreamed of doing. 
By his exaltation of ritualism and legalism, he imperiled 
the supremacy of the ethical element in the religious life. 
He made it possible for men to substitute ceremonial for 
character and to think that they were doing God service 
thereby. He exalted the book phase of religion as no other 
prophet had done. He represented his own inspiration as 
having come to him in the form of a book which he 
swallowed and digested.‘ He identified the good life with 
adherence to the precepts of a written law. He was in- 
tensely nationalistic and narrowly particularistic. He 

t Ezek. 45:1-8; 47:13-23; 48:1-35. $ Ezek. 44:6-14; 48:11. 

* Ezek. 43:19; 44:15. 4Ezek. 2:8—3:3. 


176 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


blazed the way for all the later development of apocalyp- 
ticism. He introduced a new interpretation, or rather, 
misinterpretation of Israel’s history as having been from 
the very beginning a period of deterioration. But, not- 
withstanding all this, he represented the great conserva- 
tive element in the religion of Judah that kept it true to 
its own inner spirit and protected it from evaporation, on 
the one hand, and, on the other, from such amalgamation 
with pagan religions as would have cost Hebrew religion 
its very soul. It is not too much to say with a recent 
writer that Ezekiel was ‘‘the most influential man that we 
find in the whole course of Hebrew history.’ 


tH. P. Smith, Old Testament History (1903), p. 327. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE RISE OF PERSIA AND THE 
UNKNOWN VOICE 


The reign of Nebuchadrezzar, under whom Ezekiel 
had lived and worked, was long (604-562 B.c.) and pros- 
perous. He concentrated his energies upon Babylonia 
itself, in rebuilding cities, in erecting and repairing tem- 
ples, and in dredging out old canals and digging new ones. 
He neglected the outer provinces of the empire and 
aroused jealousy especially by the favor he showed to- 
ward the city of Babylon. Upon his death political an- 
archy set in, and internal strife from that time on made it 
impossible to present a united front against an effective 
foreign invader. His successor was his son Amel-Marduk 
(=Evil-Merodach of II Kings 25:27 f.) who reigned for 
two years (562-560 B.c.), and was then murdered by his 
own brother-in-law, Nergal-shar-usur (560-556 B.c.), bet- 
ter known to us as Neriglissar. He handed the throne 
down to his son, Labashi-Marduk, who had reigned only 
nine months when he was murdered by a band of con- 
spirators who placed a Babylonian ruler on the throne 
that had been occupied for seventy years by Chaldeans. 
At the end of the reign of this ruler (555-538 B.c.), 
Nabuna’id by name (otherwise known as Nabonidus), 
the land of Babylonia changed hands. 

The Medes had received all the eastern and northern 
provinces of the deceased Assyrian Empire, while the 
Babylonians had taken the western provinces. In 585 


177 


178 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


B.C., Cyaxares, the Mede, had pushed his frontier far to 
the west, after defeating the kingdom of Urartu in battle, 
and had established the boundary between himself and 
the Lydians at the river Halys. His son, Astyages, reigned 
after him until 553 B.c. At that time there arose Cyrus 
the Persian, Prince of Anshan, in Elam. He attained pow- 
er in his own country and proceeded at once to attack 
Astyages, whom he overthrew, thus becoming lord of all 
the territory dominated by the Medes. The spectacular 
rise of Cyrus to power startled the surrounding peoples, 
who became alarmed. Consequently, about 547 B.c. 
Croesus, of Lydia, Amasis, of Egypt, Nabunai’id, of 
Babylonia, and Sparta joined hands in an alliance against 
Cyrus, a menace to all of them alike. But Cyrus learned 
of their plans and thwarted them by prompt action. He 
attacked Croesus, of Lydia, and brought him to subjec- 
tion before his allies could rally to his aid. He followed up 
this success by conquering the Greek states of Caria and 
Lycia within the next three years. 

Immediately after his victory over Croesus, Cyrus 
intrusted his western operations to one of his generals and 
hastened in person to attack Babylonia. By 546 B.c. 
southern Babylonia was invaded from Elam and a Per- 
sian governor was installed in Erech. After a brief lull in 
the hostilities, Gobryas, who was governing Assyria for 
Cyrus, inflicted a severe defeat on the Babylonians at 
Opis (539 B.c.). Bel-shar-usur (=Bel-shazzar), the son 
of Nabuna’id, was in command of the Babylonian troops 
in that battle. His father, the king, was then at Sippar, 
far to the south of Opis; but he at once, upon hearing of 
the defeat of Opis, fled to Borsippa, still farther to the 
south. Two days after the victory at Opis, Gobryas en- 


THE RISE OF PERSIA 179 


tered the city of Babylon, without the necessity of strik- 
ing a single blow. The citadel at Babylon, however, seems 
to have held out in resistance and not to have yielded to 
the Persians until March, 538 B.c., at which time Cyrus 
himself was probably present." 

During the closing years of the Babylonian rule, the 
prophet whose sermons are contained in Isaiah, chapters 
40-55, was observing the course of events and interpret- 
ing their meaning to the exiles in Babylonia.? All scholars 
of today agree that these prophecies were written, not by 
Isaiah in the eighth century B.c., but by a contemporary 
of the exile, who wrote out of the midst of exilic condi- 
tions.; He was stirred up to prophesy by the rapid rise 
of Cyrus to power. He saw in this new world-ruler the 
one chosen of Yahweh to give his people their freedom. 
The prophet’s task was to prepare the people to take ad- 
vantage of their freedom when the opportunity should 
come. This meant the creation of a new state of mind 
among the exiles. The people had lost the hope of a re- 
turn; they had made up their minds to accept the in- 
evitable, and to make the best of the situation in which 
they found themselves. It was necessary that Ezekiel 


«For the stories of these events as told by both Nabuna’id and 
Cyrus, see the “Annals of Nabonidus” and the Cyrus cylinder in 
R. F. Harper’s Assyrian and Babylonian Literature (1901), pp. 168-74. 
Cf. R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (1912), 
pp. 371-84. 

2 For introductions to these chapters, see the list of commentaries on 
Isaiah given on p. 67. 


3 Scholars vary in opinion as to the region in which this prophet 
lived; but here we shall assume his residence in Babylonia. This sup- 
position becomes doubly strong if we assign Isaiah, chap. 35, to the same 
writer, as there is good reason for doing. 


180 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


should arouse in them a new faith and stir within them 
new longings and hopes. 

Out of that situation grew the prophet’s message. He 
therefore paid much attention to the thought of God. It 
was inevitable that many exiles should have lost all faith 
in Yahweh’s ability to defend or care for the interests of 
his own people. Consequently, they were inclined to for- 
sake him and to turn to the gods of Babylon who had 
given the Babylonians victory over Jerusalem. Some 
such state of mind as this explains the stress laid upon 
the power of Yahweh by this prophet. Nowhere is the 
omnipotence of Yahweh more eloquently or powerfully 
presented than by this unknown prophet: 

Do you not know? Do you not hear? 

Has it not been told you from the beginning? . 

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, 

So that its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; 

Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, 

And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in; 

Who brings nobles to nothing, 

And makes judges of the land like the chaos. 

Hardly have they been planted, hardly have they been sown, 

Hardly has their stock struck root in the earth, 

When he blows upon them and they wither, 

And the cyclone carries them away like chaff. 

To whom, then, would you liken me, that I should be equal? 

Says the holy one. 

Lift up your eyes on high, 

And see: who created these? 

He who brings out their host by number, 

He calls all of them by name; 

Because of the abundance of his resources and since he is of 
irresistible strength, 

Not a single one is missing.t 


t Isa. 40: 21-26. See also Isa. 40:12-20. 


THE RISE OF PERSIA 181 


The obverse of the supreme power of Yahweh is, of 
course, the utter powerlessness of other gods in general, 
and of idols in particular. No finer exposure of the futil- 
ity of idols had then been written than that furnished by 
this prophet: 


Those who form idols are all a desolation, 

And their objects of desire are of no use; 

Their witnesses do not see, 

Nor do they know, that they may be ashamed. 


Who has formed a god, 

And molded an idol to be of no use? 
Surely, all his associates will be ashamed; 
For workmen are but human beings! 


They will all assemble together; they will all take their stand; 
They will be terrified; they will also be ashamed. 

The iron worker works in the coals, 

And with hammers he shapes it, 

And works it with his strong arm. 

But he becomes hungry and strength fails; 

He drinks no water, and he faints. 


The woodworker stretches a line, 

He circumscribes it with the pencil, 

He works it with planes and circumscribes it with the compass; 
And he makes it after the pattern of a man, 

Like the beauty of a human being—to sit in the house! 


He cuts down cedars for it; 

And he takes a fir or an oak, 

And he braces it with wood from the forest. 
He plants a cedar and the rain makes it grow. 
Then a man uses it for fuel; 

And he takes thereof and warms himself. 


Indeed, he kindles a fire and bakes his bread. 
Then he makes a god and worships; 
He makes an idol and prostrates himself before it. 


182 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


The half of it he has burned up in the fire; 
Over half of it he eats meat, 
He roasts a roast and is satiated. 


Indeed he warms himself and says, 
“Ah! I am warm, I have seen fire!” 
And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol. 
He prostrates himself before it and worships, 
And prays to it, and says, 
“Deliver me, for thou art my god 


1»? 


They do not know; nor do they understand; 
For their eyes are beclouded, so they cannot see, 
Their minds so that they have no wisdom. 
So it does not occur to his mind, 
Nor is their knowledge or discernment to say, 
“Half of it I have burned in the fire, 
And I have baked bread on its coals, 
I am roasting meat and eating; 
And shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? 
Shall I prostrate myself to the product of a tree?’ 


To reinforce his argument for Yahweh’s sole right to 
recognition as God, he has recourse to a new argument. 
He calls attention to the predictions made by the prophets 
of Yahweh in the past which have already been fulfilled. 
This sort of material occupies his attention a great deal.? 
He challenges the worshipers of other gods to show any- 
thing like this in support of their claims. There is none 
like Yahweh that can tell the end from the beginning.’ 
In this connection he speaks of Cyrus, king of Persia. He 
is the great outstanding figure of the times, and he is the 
one through whom the prophecies of the past are to find 

tTsa. 44:9-19. For similar utterances, see Isa. 40:18-20; 41:6f.; 
40:1-7. 

4 Isa. 4521-20; 42'0;'4350, LO, 12;.44:0-0,-40: 14s 

3 Isa. 46:9, I0. 


THE RISE OF PERSIA 183 | 


complete fulfilment.’ Cyrus, indeed, is so much the serv- 
ant and agent of Yahweh that he ventures to apply to 
him the title of Messiah (45:1), and to call him Yahweh’s 
“shepherd” (44:28). 

If Yahweh was to be credited with so much power, in- 
deed, with supreme power, then the problem presented 
itself in a different form. If Yahweh was supreme and 
omnipotent, how could it be that his people had been al- 
lowed to endure so many reverses? If Yahweh’s power 
was not exerted in defense of his people, could it be that 
Yahweh really loved his people? To this problem, our 
prophet addressed himself directly. He assured his people 
that the love of Yahweh for his people was beyond com- 
parison with the most devoted and enduring human love: 


But Zion says, ‘“Yahweh has deserted me and the Lord has 
forgotten me.”’ 

Can a woman forget her baby, 

And not have pity upon the child of her womb? 

Even if these shall forget, 

Yet I will not forget thee. 

See, I have engraved thee on my palms, 

Thy walls are constantly before me.? 


And again: 


For like a wife deserted and grieved 

In spirit has Yahweh called thee, 

And like a wife from youth when she is rejected, says thy God. 
For a brief moment I forsook thee, 

But with great mercies will I gather thee. 

In quick anger I hid my face from thee for a moment. 

But with enduring love will I have compassion on thee; 

Says thy vindicator, Yahweh. 

For like the days of Noah is this to me; 


t Isa. 41: 2-4, 25; 44:28; 45:1; 46:11; 48:14, 15. 2 Isa. 49:14-16. 


184 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


In that I swore that the waters of Noah 

Should not again pass over the earth; 

So have I sworn not to be angry with thee, 

Nor to rebuke thee. 

For the mountains may remove, 

And the hills may totter, 

But my love will not leave thee, 

Nor will my covenant of peace waver; 

Says Yahweh who has compassion on thee.? 

It is noticeable that the prophet did not seek to prove 
the love of Yahweh for Judah by a process of argument. 
No love can be demonstrated by argument, least of all the 
love of God. He simply poured out his own convictions in 
glowing certainty and sought to kindle a similar flame in 
the minds and hearts of his hearers. He believed with all 
his heart in the love of Yahweh, and he sought to make 
that faith of his own a contagion laying hold of the lives 
of his fellow-Jews. 

If, however, Yahweh has loved his people and has had 
the power to help them, what is to be said about the 
sufferings of Judah? What a strange lover Yahweh must 
be, if he has not exercised his might to save his beloved 
ones from disaster! In answer to this, the great problem 
of the religious mind in his day, this prophet wrote the 
“Servant of Yahweh Songs.’ These are four in number, 
viz., (1) Isa. 42:1-4; (2) Isa. 49: 1-6; (3) Isa. 50:4-9; and 
(4) Isa. 52:13—53:12. In these four “Songs” a different 
rhythm is employed from that in their contexts, and the 
theme is constantly that of the experience and the mission 
of the Servant. Opinions differ somewhat as to the au- 
thorship of these “‘Songs,” some holding that they were 
written by a different hand from that of the author of 


t Isa. 54:6-10. 


THE RISE OF PERSIA 185 


Isaiah, chapters 40-55, as a whole; but the arguments for 
that view are hardly convincing. They seem rather to be 
an essential element in Isaiah, chapters 40-55, without 
which its argument would be incomplete. 

A further variety of opinion exists as to the identity 
of the Servant of Yahweh.’ Is the Servant to be identified 
with some individual in the course of history, or yet to 
come, or with some part within the Hebrew nation, or 
with the Jewish people as a whole? A brief survey of the 
main facts involved will make our position here perfectly 
clear. The term ‘‘Servant of Yahweh,” or ‘“‘my Servant,”’ 
occurs outside of the ‘Servant of Yahweh Songs” them- 
selves in the following places: Isa. 41:8 ff.; 42:18-22; 
e221, 205A5-4;,50: 10. In Isa, 4778 ff)3'44::1, 2) 27; 
and 45:4 the term “Servant” is definitely identified with 
or explained by the word “Israel.” In the remaining pas- 
sages, there is nothing that calls for a different meaning 
for ‘‘Servant.’”3 Now, if the term “Servant” everywhere 
in this prophecy means “Israel” outside of the “Songs,” 
it certainly is to be supposed that the meaning of the 
term will be the same inside of the ‘‘Songs,”’ if the “‘Songs’”’ 
and the other prophecies are by the same writer, as we 
have supposed. Only if the facts or usage within the 
“Songs” themselves compel some other interpretation 
ought we to think of changing the meaning. 

« See for this point of view the commentary of Duhm (3d ed., 1914), 


and the brief history of interpretation in F. C. Eiselen, The Prophetic 
Books of the Old Testament, I (1923), 224-34. 


2 See previous note. 
3 In Isa. 42:18-22, the description of the Servant and the reference 
to the “people” in vs. 22 make the identity of the “‘Servant” as Israel 


clear. In 44:26, the word ‘‘Servant” should be pluralized, as it is by the 
Septuagint (cf. ‘his messengers’). 


186 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


In Isa. 42:1-5 the Greek version of Isaiah inserts 
“Jacob” before ‘‘my Servant” and “Israel” before ‘my 
chosen,” thus showing that the identification with the 
nation goes back into pre-Christian times. The phrase 
“T uphold” in 42:1 is used of Israel in 41:10; “‘my cho- 
sen’? appears also in 41:8; 43:20; and 45:4 where it is 
applied to Israel; and the pouring out of Yahweh’s spirit 
(42:1) is promised upon the Israelites in general in 44:3. 
In the following context at 42:6, the term ‘“‘the people” 
is used of the nations at large, as in 42:5 and 40:7. Soin 
the first song there is nothing forcing us here to find a 
different sense for the word ‘‘Servant.” 

The second song" presents more difficulty. The terms 
of verse I are very intimate and personal; but “Israel” 
is ‘‘called” in 41:9 and 48:12, “formed from the womb” 
in 46:3. Not only so, but the identification with “Israel” 
occurs in this very song itself (49:3).2 This would seem to 
settle the matter. But difficulty arises in verses 5 and 6, 
where the Servant is represented by the common transla- 
tion as doing something for Israel and therefore as an 
agent separate and apart from Israel. If, however, the . 
passage can be so translated as to make the point of view 
here regarding the Servant accord with the standpoint 
elsewhere, we certainly ought to accept such a rendering. 
To that end, we translate 49:5, 6 as follows: 

And now, Yahweh, 

Who formed me from the womb to be his Servant, 

Says that he will bring Jacob unto himself, 

And that Israel will be gathered unto him— 

For I am honorable in the eyes of Yahweh, 

t Isa. 49:1-6. 


2“Tsrael” is present in all the versions, and lacking in only one He- 
brew MS. 


THE RISE OF PERSIA 187 


And my God has become my strength— 

Yea, he says, “It is too light a thing, 

Since thou art my Servant, , 

That I should raise up the tribes of Jacob 

And restore the preserved of Israel; 

And so I will give thee for a light of the nations, 

That my deliverance may be unto the end of the earth.” 
This translation is grammatically at least as gocd as the 
common rendering, and it removes our difficulty without 
any need of textual change. There is now no reason for 
seeking for a new meaning for “Servant”’ here. 

In the third song,t when we keep in mind the highly 
figurative and personal style of these ‘‘Servant Songs,”’ 
there is nothing compelling us or even inviting us to 
change the identity of the Servant. The same quality of 
style must be remembered in the most famous and famil. 
iar of the ‘‘Songs,”’ viz., Isa. 52:13—53:12. In the com- 
mon rendering of 53:8, the Servant again seems to be 
distinguished from Israel. The text there, however, is ap- 
parently corrupt, as is shown by the Septuagint, and 
when corrected, reads: 

By an oppressive judgment he was taken; 

And who considered his generation? 

For he was cut off from the land of the living; 

Because of the transgression of the peoples he was stricken to the 
death. 

New translation is also called for in 53:10, 11, where 

a slight change of text is required, which in no way affects 

the identity of the Servant. 

Yet it pleased Yahweh to crush him by disease; 


To see if he would offer himself in atonement, 
That he might see his seed and prolong his days, 


*isa. 5034-0. 


188 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


And that the purpose of Yahweh might prosper through his hand; 

That he should see of the tribulation of himself to his satisfaction, 

That through knowledge of him my Servant should fully justify 
many, 

And should bear their sins. 


It seems, then, that there is no need to see in the term 
“Servant” in the “Songs” any other meaning than that 
which is found elsewhere. The Servant is Israel, some- 
times spoken of in terms of reality, recognition being 
made of Israel’s failings and sins; at other times, spoken 
of in idealistic terms, a significance being given to the 
conduct of Israel in the past that none but an enthusiastic 
idealist could ever have used. 

What, then, is the contribution of the ‘‘Songs” to the 
solution of the problem of Israel’s sufferings? Israel was 
placed in the world as the chosen representative of Yah- 
weh. The nation’s God-given task was to interpret Yah- 
weh to the world and so to open the eyes of the world to 
his greatness and goodness and holiness. The outcome 
is yet to be seen. Thus far, the experience of Israel has 
been an experience of oppression and suffering at the 
hands of the nations of the earth. They have triumphed 
over the people of Yahweh and despised them as a weak | 
insignificant folk not worth consideration. But the situa- 
tion is about to change. Yahweh is going to glorify his 
people. The nations are going to be overwhelmed with 
amazement as they see the manifestation of the divine 
power in favor toward Israel. ‘Then they will be overcome 
with sorrow and contrition as there bursts upon them the 
realization that the sufferings borne by Israel were suf- 
ferings that they themselves should have borne, that 
Israel was suffering in their stead. Thus will the nations 


THE RISE OF PERSIA 189 


of the world be brought to a realization of the true state 
of affairs, to a grateful recognition of the service done 
them by Israel, and to a loyal acceptance of the spiritual 
leadership of Israel and Israel’s God. The beginning of 
Israel’s servanthood was grievous, but the end thereof was 
to be made manifest in glory. 

This is a solution of the problem of its national his- 
tory for Israel that challenges wonder. What a generous 
evaluation of the peoples of the non-Hebraic world this 
was that conceived them capable of interpreting Israel’s 
conduct in such noble terms! What large-heartedness is 
here attributed to Israel when it is claimed that this suf- 
fering was borne uncomplainingly, if not, indeed, willing- 
ly, for the sake of the good of the rest of the world! How 
could a Hebrew ever have arrived at the thought of Israel 
suffering for the sins of mankind as a whole? Two things 
must be reckoned with in answering this question. First, 
whatever Israel may have endured in the past, the suffer- 
ing is all over now, and the misery of the past is to be 
more than compensated for by the glories of the future. 
Second, this singer was but widening the scope of a very 
old conception. The dominating thought in the Hebrew 
family and national groups was that of social solidarity. 
Not until the age of Ezekiel, as we have seen, was the 
thought of the individual’s rights as a person fully worked 
out. The individual existed for the family, the family for 
the clan or tribe, and that in turn for the nation as a 
whole. What this poet did was to take this thought of 
social solidarity and make it applicable to the world at 
large. The whole world was looked upon by him as a 
huge human family. Every nation in it existed for the 
benefit of all. All were potentially, at least, children of 


Igo THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


one God and Father. Israel, then, as one member of this 
great family, had been suffering for the good of the entire 
family. Israel’s sufferings, therefore, had not been in vain. 
Not only were they in satisfaction of the demands of the 
divine justice, paying the penalty for the sins of all man- 
kind, but they were also to be effective in the redemption 
of the human race and in its regeneration to a new life as 
worshipers of the one and only God. This singer was a 
voice crying in the wilderness. He was the first to utter 
the thought of one nation’s responsibility for any other 
nation’s interests than its own. He laid the sins and sor- 
rows of the world upon Israel’s shoulders. Israel refused 
to accept the responsibility or the burden. Here and 
there in later history the call of this great Unknown found 
an echo in the bosom of a Hebrew idealist. But the gran- 
deur of this conception of national life has not yet found 
realization upon the earth. Our 100 per cent American- 
ism shudders in terror before such an ideal as this.” 

It at once appears, upon consideration of such an in- 
terpretation of the Servant’s person and work as this, 
that the problem of Israel’s sufferings is met much more 
directly by this message than it could possibly be by any 
interpretation of the Servant as a person. Some aspects 
of the figurative description of the Servant and his work 
coincide closely with some elements and episodes in the 
records of the life and work of Jesus. But the conception 
of the Servant’s work as a whole is couched in wholly 
different terms from those that fit the person and work of 


* For a more detailed presentation of this aspect of the Servant’s 
function, see J. M. Powis Smith, “The Ethical Significance of Isaiah, 
Chapter 53,” Journal of Religion, III (1923), 132-40; tdem, The Moral 
Life of the Hebrews (1923), pp. 149-64. 


THE RISE OF PERSIA Ig! 


Jesus. This is an attempt to furnish a solution of an inter- 
national problem and to bring consolation and inspira- 
tion to the Jewish nation as a whole. The spirit that 
breathes throughout these ‘‘Songs”’ is a spirit of intense 
devotion to the Jewish program of life and of longing to 
see the whole world accept Jewish leadership and Jewish 
ideals. The whole purpose and work of this prophet was 
in a very real sense part of a messianic program. He was 
urging his people to prepare themselves for the coming 
messianic opportunity. His great fear was lest the oppor- 
tunity should come and his people not be ready for it. 
He would stimulate and encourage them to helieve in a 
great future and to expect its dawn at any moment. He 
looks confidently for the coming of the opportunity for 
the exiles to return to Judah. He paints glowing pictures 
of the joys of that journey and of the way in which all 
natural difficulties and hardships will be overcome; see, 
for example, Isa. 40:3-11; 41:8-20; and chapter 55. 
Hard-headed and practical as the Jews of Babylonia 
doubtless were, they treasured the words of this great 
idealist, even though they did not wholly surrender them- 
selves to the power of his ideals. His admirers then, as 
now, were probably many; his followers few. 


CHAPTER XII 


PREMATURE MESSIANIC HOPES 


The prophets Haggai and Zechariah lived and worked 
in Jerusalem. Their period of activity extended from 520 
to 516 B.c. In 538 B.c. Cyrus, of Persia, had issued an 
edict permitting the return home of all captive peoples, 
including the Jewish exiles.t The writer of Isaiah, chap- 
ters 40-53, had looked upon Cyrus as the one who would 
usher in the messianic age for the world. He had done his 
best to arouse interest in and enthusiasm for the return 
movement, but with slight success. Very few took advan- 
tage of the opportunity to go back to Judah when it pre- 
sented itself. There was no rush home in 538 B.c. The 
process of return was gradual and slow. As a matter of 
fact, Haggai and Zechariah, speaking only eighteen years 
at the most after the supposed return, make no allusion 
to the return of exiles on a large scale. No reader of their 
books would ever suspect that they were written for a 
community made up largely of returned captives. There 
was little in Jerusalem, aside from sentiment, to make it 
inviting to the exiles. The city was left desolate. The 
Temple was desecrated and destroyed. All business was 
at a standstill. Instead of a thriving mart, the city had 


tSee Ezra 1:1-4; II Chron. 36:22, 23. For Cyrus’ generous treat- 
ment of his enemies, reference may be had to Herodotus i. 86 ff., and 
Xenophon’s Cyropaedia iii. 1 ff.; iv. 4 f.; vii. 2; viii. 1 ff. Cyrus tells us in 
his own words that he collected all the captives from the west and restored 
them to their homes; see the ‘‘Cylinder of Cyrus” as translated in R. F. 
Harper’s Assyrian and Babylonian Literature (1901), p. 173. 


192 


PREMATURE MESSIANIC HOPES 193 


become a defenseless ruin, where a broken and discour- 
aged people eked out a precarious existence. On the other 
hand, there is good reason to think that the Jews in 
Babylonia had prospered. They had acted upon the ad- 
vice given them in Jeremiah’s letter (Jeremiah, chap. 29), 
and built themselves into the economic and industrial 
life of the Babylonian community as a whole. They 
had all their investments and business interests in Baby- 
lonia. The proposition to pull up stakes, sell out, and 
start all over again in a new and far-off location would not 
appeal with great force to successful Jewish merchants or 
farmers in Babylonia. 

Another difficulty in the way of the creation of great 
enthusiasm for the return movement lay in the fact that 
most of the original exiles of 597 and 586 B.c. must have 
died before 538 B.c. Very few of the exiles of 538 B.c. 
had ever seen Jerusalem or Judah. Those who had once 
lived there had left it so early in life as to have forgotten 
practically all about it. They had lived in Babylonia 
practically all their lives and in no real sense ever thought 
of Judah as “‘home.”’ They were content where they were; 
or if not wholly satisfied, probably thought it ‘‘better to 
bear the ills they had than to fly to ills they knew not of.”’ 
It is not probable that there was any great degree of 
homesickness among the Jewish population of 538 B.c. 
A still further element working against the creation of a 
general desire to return to Palestine was the length of the 
arduous journey. The only possible route for a great com- 
pany of people was to the north and west, along the banks 
of the Euphrates; west to Damascus; and south to Judah 
and Jerusalem. This was a journey requiring weeks of 
time. The seriousness of this obstacle is attested by the 


‘ 


194 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


fact that the writer of Isaiah, chapters 40-55, promised 
the exiles a royal road straight across the intervening 
desert. He assured them that all the natural difficulties 
of the desert route would be overcome, in that fountains 
and rivers would be opened in the dry land and abundance 
of vegetation would clothe the desert.1 Mountains were 
to be made low and rough places smooth. It would ap- 
pear, therefore, that there was no concerted movement 
to return in large numbers, but that the return move- 
ments were confined to small groups of enthusiasts or 
malcontents who trickled back to Judah from time to 
time as occasion served. ‘These made no marked impress 
upon the life of the Jerusalem community, for they were 
too few in number, and probably also too insignificant 
in character and ability, to count for much in the group 
as a whole. 

Thus eighteen years passed away with no great change 
in conditions among the Jews either in Jerusalem and 
Judah or in Babylonia. But about 520 B.c. things began 
to take place in the Persian Empire that attracted the 
attention of alert patriots among the Jews. Cambyses, 
the Persian monarch, was in Egypt in 521 B.c. Gaumata 
seized the opportunity afforded by the absence of Cam- 
byses to head a revolt against him in Persia. Gaumata 
put up the claim that he was Bardes, son of Cyrus. As a 
matter of fact, Cambyses had assassinated Bardes. Cam- 
byses hastened to return to Persia; but on the way thither 
he called his councilors together, confessed to them the 
murder of Bardes, and thereupon committed suicide. 
Gaumata was thus left in possession of the empire. But 
he was slain by Darius Hystaspes in October, 521 B.c. 


tsa. 40:3-5; 41:17-19; 43:19-21; 48:21; 49:9-II. 


PREMATURE MESSIANIC HOPES 195 


Revolt thereupon broke out all over the Persian Empire. 
Babylonia revolted twice, as did also Susiania. Media, 
Sagartia, Margiana, and Persia each organized a move- 
ment of rebellion, and in the last-mentioned country a 
new Bardes presented himself as entitled to the throne. 
Darius set himself the task of crushing these revolts, 
and overthrew his foes one after another in succession. 
But he did not succeed in restoring peace and order until 
520-519 B.C. His report of his victories is proof of his 
gratitude to Ahura-Mazda, his God: 


Thus speaks Darius the king: That which I did came to pass 
solely through the grace of Ahura-Mazda. Since I have been king 
I have fought nineteen battles, by the will of Ahura-Mazda I 
smote them! Nine of their kings I took as prisoners. One, Gau- 
mata by name, the Magian, lied and spoke as follows: “I am 
Bardiya the son of Cyrus.” This one made Persia rebellious. One, 
by the name of Atrina, the Susian, lied and spoke as follows: “‘I am 
the king of Susa.”” This one made Elam rebellious. One, Nidintu- 
Bel by name, a Babylonian, lied and spoke as follows: “‘I am Nebu- 
chadrezzar, the son of Nabonidus.” This one made Babylon rebel- 
lious. One, by the name of Martiya, a Persian, lied and spoke as 
follows: “I am Ummanish, king of Susa.” This one made Susa 
rebellious. One, Parumartish by name, a Median, lied and spoke 
as follows: “I am Hashatriti of the seed of Umaku-Ishtar.” This 
one made Media rebellious. One, Citrantakhma by name, a Sagar- 
tian, lied and spoke as follows: “I am king of Sagartia, of the seed 
of Umaku-Ishtar.” This one made Sagartia rebellious. One, Pa- 
rada by name, a Margianian, lied and spoke as follows: “I am king 
in Margiana.” This one made Margiana rebellious. One, Vahyaz- 
data by name, a Persian, lied and spoke as follows; “I am Bardiya, 
the son of Cyrus.” This one made Persia rebellious. One, Arahu by 
name, an Armenian, lied and spoke as follows: “I am Nebuchadrez- 
zar, the son of Nabonidus.” This one made Babylon rebellious. 

Thus speaks Darius the king: These nine kings the hands of my 
army seized within these battles. Thus speaks Darius the king: 
As for these provinces which became rebellious, a lie made them 


196 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


rebellious, so that they deceived the people. Thereupon Ahura- 
mazda gave them into my hands; according to my desire I treated 
them.t 

During the progress of these movements of revolt, the 
two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, both began their 
activity. They were partners in a common enterprise, 
that of getting slumbering Judah wide awake and ready 
for the messianic dispensation that they thought was close 
at hand.? Haggai’s sermons were all preached in the year 
520 B.c.;3 Zechariah began in 520 B.c., perhaps two months 
later than Haggai’s first appearance, and continued until 
the end of 518 B.c.4 The unsettled state of the Persian 
Empire was the immediate cause of their appearance as 
prophets. Ezekiel had taught the Jews to look for a world- 
conflict as ushering in the new dispensation, and to the 
eager eyes of these prophets these general movements 
toward revolt against Persia looked like the breaking up 
of the organized world which was to precede the appear- 
ance of the Messiah upon earth. With this general situa- 
tion in mind, let us see what message and program these 
prophets had to present. 

Haggai’s little book contains four discourses. The 
first of these is 1:2-11. Haggai urged his people to begin 
at once the rebuilding of the ruined Temple of Yahweh 
in Jerusalem. They said that they were not ready, that 
it was no time to be starting a building enterprise. Hag- 

* See the full text of this inscription from Behistun in R. F. Harper, 
op. cit., pp. 174-87. 

2 For introductions to Haggai and Zechariah see the commentaries on 
these prophets by H. G. Mitchell in the “International Critical Commen- 
tary. 

2 See Hag sir 5121527221512. 10;'2: 20, 

4Sée Zech 122075953. 


PREMATURE MESSIANIC HOPES 197 


gai replied that they seemed to be able to build homes 
for themselves; and assured them that the poor crops 
and hard times from which they were suffering were 
caused by the fact that Yahweh’s displeasure was resting 
upon them because they had so shamefully neglected the 
rebuilding of his house. Therefore let them begin build- 
ing operations at once, and so secure for themselves the 
restoration of the divine favor in the form of national 
prosperity. 

About three weeks after this challenge, the people, 
led by their governor, Zerubbabel, and the high priest, 
Joshua, entered upon the assigned task, with Haggai’s 
assurance that Yahweh was with them.’ But after the 
work of building had gone on for about a month and the 
scope and plan of the building began to emerge, Haggai 
found it necessary to furnish new encouragement. Some 
were comparing the present temple with what they had 
seen or heard of the temple of Solomon, and the compari- 
son was not favorable to the present enterprise. The first 
enthusiasm of the people was wearing away under the 
strain of the heavy and continuous work. Haggai there- 
fore assured them again that Yahweh was with them and 
would bless them. To that end Yahweh would overturn 
the nations and the wealth of the nations would come 
pouring into the new temple, so that its glory and splen- 
dor would far transcend that of Solomon’s temple.? 

Two months later, Haggai preached another message 
of reproof and encouragement. He called their attention 
to the difference between the infectious quality of ‘“‘holy”’ 
flesh, on the one hand, and that of a dead body, on the 
other, and pointed out that holiness was not anything 

t Hag. 1: 12-15. 2 Hag. 2:1-8. 


198 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


like so penetrating or ‘‘catching” as “uncleanness.” Even 
so, the people were forgetting that the few weeks or 
months in which they had been doing the will of Yahweh 
in the rebuilding of his house could hardly be expected to 
counteract or annul the influence of the long generations 
during which they had gone the way of wickedness. It is 
evident that they were beginning to complain because as 
yet they had seen nothing of the prosperity and glory so 
generously promised by the prophet. But having pointed 
out the unreasonableness of this attitude, Haggai at once 
renewed his promises and assured them of immediate ful- 
filment. He reminded them of the fact that the crops had 
been poor up to the time of the beginning of the temple- 
building, and that since they had begun building there 
had not been time for a new harvest; but the coming 
harvest would be bounteous, indicating the bestowal of | 
the divine blessing which had rested on the community 
since the building was undertaken." 

The last recorded oracle of Haggai was spoken on the 
same day as the foregoing. In it he predicted a great 
world-upheaval on the coming Day of Yahweh. Amid the 
ruin of the nations, Zerubbabel is to be singled out as 
Yahweh’s servant, whom he has chosen for special honor. 
The full significance of this reference to Zerubbabel does 
not appear until we come to the message of Zechariah. 

Zechariah’s first sermon was preached two months 
after the first appearance of Haggai. The people had been 
building for a little over a month. In his first sermon’ 
Zechariah warned his hearers of the seriousness of their 
responsibility in listening to him, the prophet of Yah- 
weh. He reminded them that the prophets of old had 


* Hag. 2:10-19. 


PREMATURE MESSIANIC HOPES 199 


preached to unwilling hearers and had failed to secure 
from them the acceptance of their message. But the pre- 
dictions of those great prophets had been fulfilled, and the 
nation had good cause to regret that the words of the 
former prophets had not been heeded. In view of this sad 
history, it would be well for the contemporaries of Zech- 
ariah to heed his message as the word of Yahweh and to 
conform to his demands.' 

The second of Zechariah’s discourses was given more 
than three months later. Through this vision of the 
heavenly horsemen, the divine assurance is again given 
the people that the Temple will be completed and the 
capital and cities in general will again overflow with popu- 
lation and prosperity. There followed upon this first 
vision a series of six more visions, extending from Zech. 2:1 
to 6:8. The first of these simply assures Zechariah that 
the nations that have oppressed Judah are all to be over- 
thrown.’ The second impresses it upon the mind of Zech- 
ariah, and through him upon the people, that the Jeru- 
salem of the future will need no walls, for Yahweh will be 
its sufficient protection. The population will also be so 
numerous that it will overflow the countryside.* To this 
is now appended a summons to the exiles to flee from 
Babylon, and an assurance that Yahweh’s people are as 
immune from danger at the hands of their foes as is the 
apple of Yahweh’s eye. The day is coming when many 
nations will serve Yahweh and be numbered as his peo- 
ple, while Jerusalem will once more become the chosen 
city of Yahweh.5 

t Zech, 1: 1-6. 4 Zech. 2:1-5. 

2 Zech. 1:7-17, 8 Zech. 2:6~13. 

3 Zech. 1: 18-21. 


200 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


The visions continue with the picture of Joshua, the 
high priest, clothed in dirty garments and standing be- 
fore the angel of Yahweh, with the Satan close at hand 
as his accuser.’ But the Satan is rebuked by the angel, 
and the attendants are ordered to clothe Joshua in prop- 
er clothing and to put a priestly miter upon his head. 
Joshua is bidden to keep the law of Yahweh and to guard 
the sacred temple against profanation. Further, the as- 
surance is given to Joshua that Yahweh is about to bring 
forth his servant, the ‘“Branch” (or “‘Sprout”). We recall 
that Zerubbabel was called the “servant of Yahweh” by 
Haggai (2:23); and that in Jer. 23:5 and 33:15, the title 
“Branch” is applied to the coming Messiah. The coming 
forth of the Branch is to be the opening of a period of 
peace and prosperity.? 

The visions continue in chapter 4. The vision of the 
golden candlestick and the two “sons-of-oil”’ was intended 
to present impressively the thought that Yahweh was in 
close touch with and in immediate control of the course of 
human events. The two “‘sons-of-oil” or “‘anointed ones” 
were in all probability meant to symbolize Joshua, the 
high priest, and Zerubbabel, the servant of Yahweh and 
the Branch. These two are the earthly representatives of 
Yahweh on high. In studying this vision, it becomes ap- 
parent at once that verses 6)—-10a are intrusive elements in 
the vision and of right belong somewhere else. The best 
place for them is before 2:6 ff. They present very force- 


t This is the first appearance of “the Satan” in the history of Hebrew 
literature. The term here is not a proper name, for it has the definite 
article prefixed; so also in Job, chaps. 1 and 2; the only other appearance 
of this agent is in I Chron. 21:1, where it is a proper name. 


2 Zech. 3: 1-10. 


PREMATURE MESSIANIC HOPES 201 


fully the proposition that the vindication of Judah and 
its glorification are not to be thought of as coming about 
through human power, but rather as caused by the spirit 
of the all-powerful Yahweh. All difficulties will melt away 
before Zerubbabel, and he will carry through the rebuild- 
ing of the Temple to triumphant conclusion. The begin- 
nings may look small, but the end will be glorious. 

The vision of the flying roll and the bushel measure 
portrays vividly the cleansing process that is to remove 
all wickedness from the holy land and to transport it to 
Babylonia, where wickedness will be at home, ‘‘in her 
own place.’* The series of visions closes with the repre- 
sentation of the four chariots, each with a team of horses 
of one color.? The bearing of the vision upon the situation 
is not very obvious. Perhaps, the prophet thought dis- 
cretion the better part of valor here, and therefore did not 
wish to make his meaning too plain to the Persians. Ap- 
parently, the vision was meant to convey the comforting 
assurance that Yahweh was about to reduce Babylonia, 
the center of the Persian Empire, to acquiescence in his 
great plans for the coming messianic age and the glori- 
fication of Judah. 

The series of visions is followed by the record of a 
very significant action in 6:9-15. The record as it stands 
in the Hebrew text is not quite clear. Why should more 
than one crown be placed on the head of the high priest? 
And why should “crowns” in verse 14 be followed by a 
verb in the singular, as “‘shall be” is in its Hebrew form? 
Further, the “Branch” of verse 12 can be none other than 
Zerubbabel, who is so designated in Zech. 3:8; he is also 
credited with the expected completion of the Temple in 

t Zech. 5:1-11. 2 Zech, 6:1-8. 


202 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Zech. 4:7, 9, even as the “Branch” is here in verse 13. 
Not only so, but the Septuagint offers a variation in verse 
13, reading “‘and the priest shall be at his right hand.” 
These facts seem to point to some tampering with the 
original text. We are fairly safe in reconstructing the epi- 
sode somewhat as follows. Just after a small company of 
exiles had returned to Jerusalem, Zechariah felt called up- 
on to lead the way in inducting Zerubbabel into his office 
as the promised Messiah. Consequently, he had two 
crowns made, and in a small private group he proceeded 
to place these crowns upon the heads of Zerubbabel, the 
governor, and of Joshua, the high priest. The crowning 
of Zerubbabel was a deliberate attempt to launch the 
messianic movement in full force; Joshua, the priest, was 
crowned in order to give recognition to the priestly order 
in the messianic program. That Zerubbabel was actually 
regarded by his contemporaries as the Messiah is clear 
from this incident, from the references to him as the 
“Branch,” and from the allusion to him in Hag. 2:23. It 
seems strange to us that so ideal a figure as the Messiah 
should ever have been identified with a person living here 
upon earth. But though Zerubbabel was, perhaps, the 
first Jew to be so honored, he was by no means the last. 
Messiahs appeared from time to time to give trouble to 
the Persian, Greek, and Roman overlords of Judah. This 
attempt to introduce the messianic age proved abortive, 
of course. What happened to its promoters and to its cen- 
tral figure we do not know, but can readily imagine. The 
Persian government was tolerant and liberal; but no gov- 
ernment would look with equanimity upon a movement 
to set up a crowned king over one of its subject provinces. 
The tragic ending of the movement is sunk in oblivion. 


PREMATURE MESSIANIC HOPES 203 


Later hands took the narrative of this episode and elimi- 
nated from it the name of Zerubbabel, but left that of 
Joshua standing, since the supremacy of the priestly order 
became more and more conspicuous as time went on. The 
collapse of this messianic movement was a terrific blow to 
Jewish faith. From this time on we have no records of 
any activity for a half-century or more. Hope was crushed. 

Chapters 7 and 8 of Zechariah contain the record of 
the inquiry made in 518 B.c. by a delegation sent to the 
priests as to whether or not the custom of observing fasts 
in the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months should be 
any longer continued. Zechariah took it upon himself to 
offer an answer. He declared that the fasts were of no 
value in and of themselves; but that obcdience to the re- 
quirements of Yahweh was the all-important thing. Be- 
cause the prophets of old had not been heeded when they 
issued a call to follow after justice and to practice mercy 
and kindness to the poor and helpless, the punishments 
of the past had been severe and long continued. But those 
days are over. The future is full of hope and promise. 
Fasts will be turned into feasts; and peoples from every 
nation will come pouring into Judah to seek Yahweh in 
Jerusalem. The nations will be crowding around the Jews 
pleading to be permitted to join their number because 
they have heard that God is with the Jews. Jerusalem 
will be called “‘the city of truth” and Zion will be named 
“the holy mountain.” The scattered exiles will all be 
brought back home and the streets of Jerusalem be filled 
with old men and women whose hearts shall be lightened 
by the merry laughter of the boys and girls who fill all 
the open spaces. These oracles of encouragement in all 
probability were spoken before or during the brief period 


204 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


of messianic activity recorded in 6:9-15. The hopes they 
reflect were all dashed to the earth by the unwritten ca- 
lamity that brought that movement to an untimely end. 
It may well be that some of the messianic oracles now 
incorporated in Isaiah, chapters 1-39, were called forth 
by the emergence of Zerubbabel as Messiah. If that situa- 
tion called forth two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, 
with messianic interpretations, it is not at all improbable 
that other zealots should also have seen in Zerubbabel 
the promised Messiah ushering in the dawn of the Gold- 
en Age. We cannot date these messianic chapters in 
Isaiah with any certainty, and placing them here is, at 
best, but a conjecture. But some of the characteristics of 
the messianic hope that centered around Zerubbabel recur 
in some of these messianic pictures also. Zerubbabel actu- 
ally was a descendant of the great King David, and to 
that extent, at least, he was a promising candidate for 
the vacant messianic throne. 
One of the most famous prophecies is found in Isa. 
OvileO: 
The people who have been walking in darkness will see a great 
light; 
They who have dwelt in a land of densest darkness—upon them 
will the light shine. 
Thou wilt multiply the nation, thou wilt magnify its mirth; 
They will make merriness before thee like the merriness at harvest- 
time, 
Just as men exult when they share spoil; 
Because the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, 
The stick of his driver, thou wilt break as in the day of Midian. 
For every boot worn in the tumult of battle, 
And every mantle rolled in blood, 
Will be for burning, as fuel for the fire. 
For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us. 


PREMATURE MESSIANIC HOPES 205 


And the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will 
be called, 

Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Father forever, Prince of Peace. 

Of the increase of dominion and of prosperity there will be no end 

Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom 

To establish it and to support it in justice and righteousness, 

From henceforth, even for ever. 

The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this. 


The picture contemplates a world in which the Jewish na- 
tion will be free from all oppression and under the rule of 
the Messiah. War is to be a thing of the past, and justice 
and righteousness are to be in supreme control of all 
human affairs. The Messiah is to be a paragon of power, 
wisdom, and love—a very God. This is all very much like 
what Haggai and Zechariah promised their people. 

Isa. 11:1-9 may also belong to this general period. 
Its hopes are very much of the same order as the fore- 
going: 
There will come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, 
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 
The spirit of Yahweh will rest upon him, 
A spirit of wisdom and discernment, 
A spirit of counsel and power, 
A spirit of the knowledge and fear of Yahweh. 
He will not give judgment according to what his eyes see; 
Nor will he reprove according to what his ears hear; 
But he will judge the poor in righteousness, 
And he will reprove with equity the meek of the earth; 
He will smite the violent with the rod of his mouth, 
And with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 
Righteousness will be the girdle of his loins, 
And fidelity the girdle of his waist. 


The wolf will dwell with the lamb, 
The leopard will lie down with the kid, 
The calf, the young lion, and the fatling also, 


206 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


And a little child will drive them. 

The heifer and the bear will be friends, 

Their young ones will lie down together, 

And the lion will eat straw like an ox. 

The suckling will play upon the hole of the adder, 

And the child just weaned will put his hand on the serpent’s lair. 
They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; 

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh, 

As the waters cover the sea. 


The same unlimited idealism appears here as in Eze- 
kiel and Isaiah, chapters 40-55, an idealism that was car- 
ried to its logical conclusion in the work of Haggai, Zech- 
ariah, and such writers as the author of this beautiful 
dream. Similar visions of a blessed future are presented 
in Isa. 32: 1-8 and 33:17-24. Hopes like these gave Israel 
courage in days of darkness. It would almost seem that 
the darker the outlook, as seen by the eye of the ordinary 
man, the brighter and more glorious were the visions seen 
by the eye of faith. 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE CRY FOR VENGEANCE 


In this chapter we bring together three pieces of pro- 
phetic literature, viz., Isaiah, chapters 56-66; the Book 
of Obadiah; and the Book of Malachi. The considera- 
tions for dating these writings are not as clear and defi- 
nite as we should like. Their post-exilic character is 
beyond question; but as to the specific portion of the post- 
exilic period to which they belong there is room for con- 
siderable difference of opinion. Here we shall treat them 
as coming from the close of the long period of silence that 
came after the collapse of the boom for Zerubbabel as 
Messiah. They represent, in part, the spirit that found 
its outlet in the work of Nehemiah and Ezra, and prob- 
ably belong in close proximity to the reform movement. 

The chapters closing the Book of Isaiah are not easily 
handled as a unit. They rather represent the work of 
more than one prophet, being a collection of anonymous 
prophetic writings.’ There is a noticeable lack of unity in 
the standpoints of the various chapters. But, in general, 
the situation which they all reflect is that of a people pro- 
foundly discouraged and in need of great stimulation. 
Consequently, much of the content of these chapters con- 
cerns itself with the task of inspiring a disheartened peo- 
ple. To that end were the prophecies uttered that prom- 
ise disaster and destruction to the foes of Yahweh and 
of Judah. See, for example, Isa. 61:5 and 66:16-19. The 


* For a discussion of the date of this material, see the commentaries 
on Isaiah, cited on p. 67. 
207 


208 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


most terrible and vindictive of these utterances is that 
in Isa. 63:1-6. This is a picture of Yahweh or his destroy- 
ing angel coming up from Edom with his clothing red- 
dened with the blood of those whom he has trampled to 
death. Such words as these show how the wrongs in- 
flicted upon Judah in the time of its weakness by her 
neighbors, especially the Edomites, rankled in the bosom 
of the Jewish people. Nothing less than a bloody retribu- 
tion would satisfy their lust for vengeance. On the other 
hand, in chap. 56:3-7 we find a contrary attitude toward 
the pagan world, which would open the doors of Yahweh’s 
house to all nations: 


My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples. 


- Certainly, those who would avail themselves of this hos- 
pitality must become proselytes to the Jewish faith. The 
two requirements made of them are that they shall ob- 
serve the Jewish Sabbath and keep the covenant of Yah- 
weh. This last item is apparently vague, but it probably 
implied compliance with the entire Jewish ritual and 
law. But the ritualistic interest did not eliminate the old 
ethical interest and passion of prophecy. Ritual is made 
of subordinate value as compared with ethics, in Isa. 
5853-7, O1:3 50:3,.4) 7212, 15; and 61:3). inaganesas 
correct ritual was fraught with much evil is clear from 
the denunciations of idolatry and superstition in Isa. 57: 
1-9 and 65:1-7. 

The people for whom these chapters were written were 
sunk deep in a slough of despond. 


Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not? 
Wherefore have we afflicted ourselves, and thou takest no heed?! 


t Isa. 58:3. 


THE CRY FOR VENGEANCE 200 


That is the way in which they were thinking. Religion 
ought to pay good dividends; but the more religious they 
were the less they seemed to get. Why were they per- 
mitted to go on suffering oppression and wrong at the 
hands of their enemies? To such questions an answer was 
readily forthcoming from the prophets: 


Yahweh’s hand is not shortened so that it cannot save, 
Nor is his ear heavy, so that it cannot hear. 
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God. 


Therefore is justice far from us, 

And justification does not overtake us. 
We look for light, but behold darkness, 
For brightness, but we walk in gloom. 

We grope for the wall like the blind; 

Yea, as they who have no eyes, do we grope; 
We stumble at noonday as in the twilight; 
We are in dark places like the dead. 

We all growl like bears, 

And mourn sore like doves; 

We look for right, but there is none; 

For deliverance, but it is far from us.? 


One of the most touching expressions of plaintive protest 
in all literature is placed upon the lips of the Jewish com- 
munity in the form of a prayer to Yahweh: 


Look forth from the heavens and see, 
From thy holy and beauteous dwelling; 
Where are thy zeal and thy deeds of might? 


The compassion of thy heart and thy mercies have been restrained 
for us. 


For thou art our father! 

Abraham has not known us, 

Nor Israel recognized us. 

Thou, O Yahweh, art our father, 

“Our vindicator from of old” is thy name. 


pisar S021, 2. 2Tsa. 59:Q-11. 


210 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Why hast thou made us to wander from thy ways, O Yahweh? 
Why dost thou harden our heart against the fear of thee? 
Return, for the sake of thy servants, 

The tribes of thine inheritance. 


Wherefore did the wicked decimate thy saints? 

Wherefore did our enemies trample upon thy sanctuary? 

Why have we been as those over whom thou hast not ruled from 
of old, 

And over whom thy name has not been called? 


O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down! 
That at thy presence the mountains might quake, 

As when fire makes the water boil, 

So as to make known thy name to thine enemies, 

That the nations might tremble at thy presence. 


When thou didst do terrible things which we did not expect, 
Thou didst come down, the mountains quaked. 

From of old they had not heard, nor given ear; 

No eye has seen a god except thee, 

Who works for him who waits for him. 


Thou dost look with favor on those who do righteousness, 
And remember thy ways; 

But now thou art angry, for we have sinned, 

And we have been wicked from of old. 

And we are all of us like one unclean; 

And all our righteousness is like a defiled garment; 

And we do all fade like a leaf; 

And our guilt carries us away like the wind. 


There is no one calling upon thy name, 

Or arousing himself to take hold of thee. 

For thou hast hidden thy face from us; 

And hast delivered us into the power of our guilt. 


Now, O Yahweh, thou art our father; 

We are the clay and thou art our potter; 

And all of us are the work of thy hands. 

Do not be angry with us, O Yahweh, exceedingly, 
And do not remember our guilt forever. 


THE CRY FOR VENGEANCE 210 


But look now, we are all thy people! 

Thy holy cities have been a wilderness; 

Zion has been a wilderness; Jerusalem a desolation. 
Our holy and beautiful house 

Wherein our fathers praised thee 

Was burned with fire; 

And all our treasures were destroyed. 

Wilt thou restrain thyself for these things, O Yahweh? 
Wilt thou be silent, and afflict us exceedingly?! 


This state of deep depression needs to be offset by 
words of correspondingly high anticipation. Such words 
are found in Isaiah, chapters 56-66, in abundance. There 
is no section of Hebrew literature in which the spirit of 
hopeful faith expresses itself more exultantly and beauti- 
fully than here. The darker the immediate situation was 
the brighter did the skies of the prophetic future shine. 
The pictures of the Golden Age painted in this period of 
gloom are familiar to all readers of the Bible. They are a 
challenge to the faint-hearted of any age. Such words are 
found all through the chapters, but are especially note- 
worthy in chapter 62; 65:8-25; and 66:20-23. The most 
beautiful vision of the future is found in chapter 60, of 
which a new rendering may be given: 

Arise, shine, for thy light is come, 

And the glory of Yahweh is risen upon thee! 
For, behold, darkness covers the earth, 

And dense darkness the peoples; 

But upon thee Yahweh will arise, 

And his glory will be seen upon thee; 

And nations will come to thy light, 

And kings to the brightness of thy rising. 


Lift up thine eyes round about and see! 
They are all assembling, they come to thee! 


* Isa, 63:15—64-11. 


212 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Thy sons will come from far, 
And thy daughters will be carried on the side. 


Then thou wilt see and beam with joy; 

Thy heart will be stirred and be enlarged. 

For the riches of the sea will be turned unto thee; 
The wealth of nations will come to thee. 


A flood of camels will cover thee, 

The young camels of Midian and Ephah; 
They will all come from Sheba. 

Gold and incense will they carry, 

And the praises of Yahweh will they proclaim. 


All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered unto thee, 
The rams of Nebaioth will minister to thee; 

They will come up with acceptance on mine altar, 
And I will glorify my glorious house. 


Who are these that fly as a cloud, 

And as the doves to their cotes? 

For the isles will wait for me, 

With the ships of Tarshish in the lead, 

To bring thy sons from far, 

Their silver and their gold with them, 

For the name of Yahweh, thy God, 

And for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified thee. 


And aliens will build thy walls, 

And their kings will minister to thee; 

For in my anger I smote thee, 

And in my favor will I have mercy on thee. 


And thy gates will be open continually, 

Neither by day, nor by night will they be closed, 
That the wealth of the nations may come to thee, 
And their kings leading on. 


For the nation or the kingdom that will not serve thee will perish; 
The nations will be utterly destroyed. 


THE CRY FOR VENGEANCE Zi 


The glory of Lebanon will come to thee, 

The cypress, the cedar, and also the elm, 

To glorify the place of my sanctuary, 

That I may make the place of my feet glorious. 


The sons of thy oppressors will come cringing unto thee, 

And those who despised thee will prostrate themselves at the soles 
of thy feet. 

And they will call thee the city of Yahweh, 

The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 


Instead of thy being deserted and hated with no one passing by, 
I will make thee an everlasting majesty, 

A joy to generations to come. 

Thou shalt suck the milk of the nations; 

And at the breast of kings thou shalt suck. 

Thou shalt know that I Yahweh am thy deliverer, 

And that thy vindicator is the mighty one of Jacob. 


Instead of bronze, I will bring gold; 

Instead of iron, I will bring silver; 

Instead of wood, I will bring bronze, 

And instead of stones, iron. 

I will make thy government peace, 

And thy taskmasters righteousness. 

There will not be heard any longer in thy land violence, 
Destruction, nor devastation in thy boundaries; 

But thou wilt call thy walls, “Deliverance,” 

And thy gates, “‘Praise.”’ 


The sun will be no more thy light by day, 

Nor will the moon give thee light for brightness; 
But Yahweh will be thy everlasting light, 

And thy God thy glory. 


Thy sun will no more set, 

Nor will thy moon be gathered up; 

But Yahweh will be thy everlasting light, 

And the days of thy mourning will be completed. 


214 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Thy people will be all of them righteous, 

Forever will they possess the land, 

The branch of my planting, the work of my hands to be glorified. 
The little one will become a thousand; 

And the small one, a strong people; 

If Yahweh will hasten it in its time. 

The little Book of Obadiah is in its original elements 
a product of this same general period. It reflects bitter 
hatred against Edom and a burning desire for vengeance 
upon that land and people. The first five verses of Oba- 
diah appear also in Jer. 49:9, 14-16. It is pretty generally 
granted now that they were original with Obadiah, and 
were therefore borrowed by the editors who produced the 
present Book of Jeremiah. The Book of Obadiah is itself 
the product of editorial activity. The original prophecy 
seems to have consisted of verses 1—7e and 10-14, 15). 
The remaining verses also deal with Edom, but seem to 
reflect a later eschatological point of view." 

The acts of Edom that called forth the spirit of venge- 
ance seen in Isaiah, chapter 63, Obadiah, and Malachi are 
also spoken of in Ezekiel, chapter 35, Ps. 137:7, and 
Lam. 4:21 f. The writer of Obadiah seems to be aware 
of amovement that is on foot having for its end an attack 
upon Edom. He contemplates this outlook with undis- 
guised satisfaction. He sees in the coming onslaught the 
divine purpose to punish Edom for its share in the humil- 
iation and robbery of Judah at the time of the overthrow 
by the Babylonians in 586 B.c. In verses 10-14 he chides 
Edom for its reprehensible conduct on that occasion, and 
in verse 15) he threatens her with a similar fate to that 

t For an introduction to Obadiah, see J. A. Bewer, Introduction to the 


Literature of the Old Testament (1922), pp. 251f.; F. C. Eiselen, The 
Prophetic Books of the Old Testament, IL (1923), 430-39. 


THE CRY FOR VENGEANCE 215 


which she helped inflict upon Judah; she will reap what 
she has sown. This portion of the book seems to reflect 
an actual historical situation; the remainder of the book 
deals with eschatological pictures rather than historical 
realities. Both parts alike look upon an adequate revenge 
upon Edom as an indispensable part of the divine pro- 
gram. This is practically the sole interest of the book; 
the later writer does take a brief glimpse at the nations at 
large whom he would subject to the same fate as Edom, 
but Edom is his first and last concern. The spirit of such 
writings is easily understood, and is not wholly without 
warrant; but it is unworthy of the best standards of the 
great prophets. 

The Book of Malachi reflects the same attitude toward 
Edom, but differs from Obadiah in two main particulars. 
Malachi does not look forward to a punishment upon 
Edom, but regards it as already accomplished. Further, 
Edom’s fate is not his supreme concern; he passes on, 
after a brief allusion to Edom, to other matters that are 
closer at hand and of more immediate importance.’ The 
Book of Malachi is thus a bit later in origin than Oba- 
diah, but still belongs in the period of gloom and dis- 
couragement, prior to the reform movement under Nehe- 
miah and Ezra. 

The author of Malachi sets himself to the task of en- 
couraging his people and of quickening their faith. He 
recognizes clearly the state of mind of his contemporaries, 
and meets them on their own level. He himself is full of 
courage and enthusiasm, and is dominated by an invin- 


t For an introduction to and detailed interpretation of the Book of 
Malachi, see J. M. Powis Smith, Malachi (‘‘International Critical Com- 
mentary,” 1912). 


216 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


cible faith. These attitudes he seeks to awaken in the 
minds and hearts of his people. 

The prophet’s generation was skeptically minded. 
They were saying that Yahweh evidently had no love for 
his people, their sad situation was demonstration enough 
of that proposition. In the opening section of the book, the 
prophet gives a proof that Yahweh does love Judah. He 
finds that proof in a recent disaster that has befallen the 
people of Edom. How can Judah say that Yahweh does 
not love her when she has before her eyes the devastation 
of Edom? Is not punishment of Edom irrefutable proof 
that Yahweh loves his people? It is quite evident that the 
attitude of the Jews was essentially this: “Anybody who 
injures Edom is our friend.’’* This is exactly the attitude 
of hatred toward Edom that we have seen in Isaiah, chap- 
ter 63, and in Obadiah. 

In the next section of this prophecy? one of the reasons 
why Judah has not enjoyed prosperity is clearly pointed 
out. It lies in the fact that the performance of the ritual 
has been grossly neglected. How can Judah expect to be 
favored by Yahweh when she has failed to give Yahweh 
his due? They have been careless and indifferent in the 
arrangements and provisions for sacrifice. The exiled 
communities in Egypt and elsewhere have organized a 
worship in the heart of the pagan world that puts the 
worship of the mother-Temple in Jerusalem to shame. 
The priests themselves who ought to be the guardians of 
the purity of the altar have winked at irregularities and 
said: ‘‘What is the difference?”’ 

A second reason for the absence of Yahweh’s favor is 
formulated by the prophet in 2:10-16. This, to our mod- 

t Mal. 1: 2-5. 2 Mal. 1:6—2:9. 


THE CRY FOR VENGEANCE 217 


ern minds, is much more serious, but was not necessarily 
so to the contemporaries of the prophet himself. The men 
of Judah have been perpetrating a great social wrong. 
They have been indulging in the practice of heartless 
divorce. They are in the habit of discarding the wives 
they married in their youth and filling their places with 
alien women who are addicted to idolatry. These mar- 
riages were probably dictated by ambition for wealth or 
influence, and were in absolute defiance of every feeling 
of justice or fair play, not to speak of love. How can the 
Jews expect Yahweh to accept their sacrifices, carelessly 
offered at the best, when the cries of the expelled wives 
are continually sounding in his ears? 

A third difficulty in the way of the free outpouring of 
the grace of Yahweh is stated in 2:17—-3:6. It is found 
in the skeptical state of mind prevalent among the Jews. 
They have been thinking and saying that God has no 
interest in the execution of justice, that he does not dis- 
criminate in his treatment between the righteous and the 
wicked. To that charge the prophet replies that the Day 
of Yahweh is near at hand. In that great and awful Day, 
Yahweh will come with cleansing fire and clean out the 
wicked from the priesthood so that the sacrifices may 
once more be acceptable, as in days gone by. But the 
cleansing process will not stop at the Temple, but will go 
forth throughout the land doing away with all social 
wrongs, personal sins, and all doers of injustice. Only the 
unchanging goodness of Yahweh will keep the Jews from 
total destruction. 

Another obstacle in the way of the manifestation of 
Yahweh’s love is presented in 3:7-12. The Jewish people 
are wholly unreasonable in expecting Yahweh to bless 


218 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


them when they have robbed him of his natural rights. 
Tithes and offerings belong to Yahweh; but they have 
been withheld. The indispensable prerequisite to the 
granting of the divine blessing is that they shall bring 
the whole tithe into the storehouse. Then will blessings 
be poured out so abundantly that there will be no room 
to store them away. The forces of nature will work un- 
hindered to fill the coffers of Jewry, and the nations of the 
earth will look with envy upon Judah as the beloved of 
Yahweh. 

The last difficulty encountered by Yahweh in his de- 
sire to bless his people appears in 3:13——4:3. It is a part 
of the skepticism already dealt with. The people are say- 
ing that religion does not pay; for those who flout it are 
in enjoyment of prosperity, while the pious are poor and 
wretched. To these complaints, the response is that con- 
ditions are about to change. The Day of Yahweh is near 
at hand, when the destructive wrath of Yahweh will fall 
upon the wicked, utterly destroying them; while prosper- 
ity and power will be granted the pious. They will hold 
sway over the godless, and will enjoy intimate fellow- 
ship with Yahweh himself. 

The closing section of the Book of Malachi is a later 
editorial addition. It presupposes the authority of the 
Mosaic Law and promises a preliminary work of reconcil- 
iation between parents and children to be carried through 
by the prophet Elijah, who will return to the earth before 
the coming of the great and terrible Day of Yahweh. This 
work must be done lest Yahweh should on his great Day 
“smite the earth with a curse.” 

We might very well have called this chapter ‘“The 
Decline of Prophecy.”’ There are some great conceptions 


THE CRY FOR VENGEANCE 219 


expressed by these writers. But the range is narrow and 
the air is heavy. We are dealing not with realities, but 
with the “stuff that dreams are made of.”’ The stir and 
energy of the great prophets are gone. The existence of 
independent nationality was vital to the well-being of 
prophecy. When the nation as such died, prophecy re- 
ceived its death sentence. The post-exilic prophets were 
but feeble echoes of the great voices of the past. 


CHAPTER XIV 
A CALL TO WORLD-WIDE SERVICE 


The reform effected by Nehemiah and Ezra was not 
carried by the support of all the people. It involved an 
exclusive, nationalistic, Jewish spirit that did not com- 
mend it to some of the more generous minds. A powerful 
protest against the particularistic spirit of the movement, 
with its opposition to the entrance of any foreigner into 
the Jewish circle, was voiced in a campaign document 
which has reached us as the Book of Jonah. This writing 
was called forth by the movement toward exclusion of 
foreigners, and is to be thought of as having arisen in 
close connection with the reform, either before it was 
actually adopted, or after its effects were beginning to be 
evident.’ 

The book was not written by Jonah, but about Jonah. 
There actually was a prophet by the name of Jonah; see 
II Kings 14:25. This prophet lived in the days of Jero- 
boam II, or just before his reign, and was credited with 
having foretold the conquests of that king. He therefore 
belonged not in the class of men like Amos and Hosea, 
who criticized the government, but is rather to be thought 
of as a popular prophet who supported the policies of the 
king and promised him success and prosperity. Such a 
prophet therefore would have been an opponent of men 


like Amos and Hosea. 
™ For an introduction to the Book of Jonah, see J. A. Bewer, Jonah 


(“International Critical Commentary,” 1912); and F. C. Eiselen, The 
Prophetic Books of the Old Testament, II (1923), 439-71. 


220 


A CALL TO SERVICE eon 


The Book of Jonah was written long after the death of 
Jonah. It is clear from the way in which Nineveh is men- 
tioned that the city was no longer standing. Nineveh was 
destroyed in 612 B.c. The writer of the book was not 
acquainted with the siege of the city, nor with the extent 
of its population. The ruins of the place as laid bare by 
modern excavators show that the circumference of the 
town was not more than 73, or at most, 8 miles. Yet the 
book speaks of Jonah as going into the city a day’s jour- 
ney before he began to preach. That would have taken 
him clear through Nineveh as it actually was. Similarly, 
it is clear that the population of Jonah’s Nineveh cannot 
have been less than 500,000. But the total area of the real 
Nineveh was about 1,800 acres. When we recall that the 
modern skyscraper was not known and that the houses of 
the ancient world were prevailingly one-story buildings, 
we recognize the difficulty of housing a half-million people 
on 1,800 acres, Furthermore, the language of Jonah is 
that characteristic of the late period of Hebrew history, 
and the thought is likewise too generous and all inclusive 
to belong to the intensely nationalistic pre-exilic period. 
These things all combine to place the book in the middle 
of the fifth century B.c., or thereabouts. 

The Book of Jonah is a story told to convey to the 
reader a great idea. The pedagogic value of the story- 
telling method is clearly recognized today. The parables 
of Jesus are the best-known elements of his message. 
Those parables are not plain, prosaic records of actual 
episodes in the life of Jesus. They are the product of his 
imagination. They were illuminated and energized by go- 
ing through the mind of Jesus. He did not tell his hearers 
a definite and specific incident that he or they had just 


222 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


seen. He created a typical episode or incident that gath- 
ered up into itself all that was vital and essential in the 
kind of experience that he was employing for the purpose 
of his message. The parables, therefore, were not true 
transcripts of actual deeds and words; they were true to 
the truth of common experience, but were not verbatim 
reports or photographic plates of reality. Indeed, it is 
not at all necessary that a story should be literally true in 
order to have great value for moral and spiritual ends. 
Charles Dickens did much to reform the iniquitous pri- 
vate schools of England in his day by writing a novel, 
Nicholas Nickleby, in which he caricatured and thus made 
vivid to the minds of many readers the pettiness, stupidity, 
and brutality of those places of torment. Harriet Beecher 
Stowe did not give actual history in her novel, Uncle 
Tom’s Cabin, but her story stirred to indignation the 
minds of thousands of northerners who actually knew 
next to nothing about the real condition of the slave. Mrs. 
Stowe’s book was an exaggeration, but was no less effec- 
tive on that account. So, likewise, the Book of Jonah 
sought to teach a great truth, and the value of the story 
it tells is not in any sense dependent upon the dimensions 
of a whale’s gullet. 

We shall follow the story through, noting the progress 
of the thought. Jonah, the prophet, living at Gath-hepher, 
on the edge of the Philistines’ territory, felt himself called 
to prophesy at Nineveh in the name of Yahweh. At once 
he turned in the opposite direction, went down to Joppa, 
and took ship there for Tarshish, the farthest possible 
port from Nineveh. No sooner had the ship set sail than 
Yahweh hurled a violent wind upon the sea and the waves 
were wrought to a great fury, so that ‘“‘the ship thought 


A CALL TO SERVICE 223 


that it was going to be broken to pieces.” The sailors 
cried out to their various gods in terror, and set to work 
to lighten ship by casting overboard everything that was 
loose. Meantime, Jonah had gone down into the hold, 
where he was lying fast asleep, worn out by the fatigue of 
his hasty flight from his duty. The captain hunted him 
out and reproached him for not being awake and engaged 
in praying to his God that they all might be saved. Not 
knowing what else to do, the sailors began to cast lots, 
that they might learn who was responsible for their sad 
plight. The lot fell upon Jonah, who then proceeded to 
tell them what he had done to cause the great storm. This 
account made the sailors terrified, and they besought 
Jonah to tell them how they might placate his angry God. 
Jonah, stricken with remorse, urged them to put him 
over the side and let the ocean swallow him up. This is 
the only decent thing that Jonah did in the entire story. 
But the sailors, pagans as they were, were unwilling to toss 
away a man’s life in that fashion; so they rowed hard to 
bring the ship to land but all to no avail. Thereupon the 
reluctant sailors, breathing a prayer to Jonah’s God for for- 
giveness for what he had compelled them to do, tossed 
Jonah to the angry waves, which at once subsided from 
their fury, so that the sea became once more calm. The 
sailors were amazed and at once offered a sacrifice to 
Yahweh and made vows to be performed when they 
reached shore. This is the first stage of the story, 
and it ends with the fact that the idolatrous heathen 
sailors recognized the power of Yahweh, the Hebrew 
God, and vowed service to him. It may be noticed 
at this point that the story so far has seen the per- 
formance of three miracles, viz., (1) the sending of the 


224 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


strong wind at the requisite time and place; (2) the direc- 
tion of the lot so that it fell upon Jonah, the guilty man; 
and (3) the sudden cessation of the storm as soon as 
Jonah hit the surface of the water. It is a story which, if 
taken literally, is full of the miraculous. The moment 
anything passes out of the sphere of the natural, that 
moment it ceases to be susceptible of human measure- 
ments or standards of any sort. So the Book of Jonah is 
not a book of one miracle, but of a series of miracles. 

Meantime, what about Jonah? “Yahweh ordained a 
great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the 
belly of the fish three days and three nights.’”’ Nothing is 
said here about a whale; the ‘‘whale”’ appears for the first 
time in Matt. 12:40. If it be insisted that we take this 
story as literal history, it is evident that we are shut up 
to no particular variety of fish by this narrative. It was a 
fish set apart by Yahweh for this particular purpose, and 
we must suppose that it was adapted to the purpose it was 
intended to subserve. If necessary, Yahweh was thought 
quite capable of making a fish to suit his purpose, and 
that may have been the case here; the language permits 
this, though it does not definitely say it. In any case, we 
need not worry ourselves about the dimensions of a whale, 
no matter how literal we wish to be. The whole episode is 
miraculous, and can be tied down by no human or pisca- 
torial limitations. In the interior of the fish, Jonah had 
abundant time and food for thought. The result was that 
he prayed to Yahweh in contrition and penitence, so that 
Yahweh spoke to the fish, which at once ‘“‘vomited Jonah 
out upon the dry land.” Here the series of miracles is 
again increased. 

Jonah, once more upon /erra firma, is again ordered to 


A CALL TO SERVICE 225 


Nineveh, and this time he responds to the call. He en- 
tered the city finally and began to send forth his cry: 
“Yet forty days and Nineveh will be destroyed.” The 
entire city took the threat seriously and betook itself to 
mourning. From king to slave the whole population en- 
tered upon a fast, put sackcloth upon their loins, and 
cried aloud to God for mercy. Even the beasts of the city 
were included in the observance of this strict régime. God 
heard the cry of the city and relented from his dread pur- 
pose to destroy the city. But this was too much for 
Jonah, who was greatly displeased and disappointed by 
the apparent outcome of his mission. He therefore prayed 
God to take his life from him, saying that he was better 
off dead than alive. But Yahweh simply said to him with 
gentle irony: “‘Are you very angry, Jonah?” 

Thereupon Jonah went out of the city to the east and 
made a booth under which he seated himself, waiting and 
hoping against hope that he might, after all, see the de- 
struction of the heathen city. But Yahweh miraculously 
provided a gourd which grew up over Jonah’s hut and 
furnished him a grateful protection from the fierce heat. 
Scarcely had he had time to appreciate the gourd when 
God sent aworm which smote the gourd, so that it died. To 
make matters worse, God sent a sultry, stifling east wind 
which Jonah found unbearably trying. Again his sullen cry 
for death was heard, and once more came the gentle irony 
of God: “Are you very angry on account of the gourd 2?” 
And Jonah replied that he was angry to the point of death. 

Then Yahweh turned upon him with crushing force, 
saying: 

You have had pity on the gourd, for which you did not labor, 
nor did you make it grow; it came up over night and perished over 


226 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


night. And ought I not to have pity on Nineveh that great city, 
wherein are more than 120,000 persons who cannot distinguish their 
right hand from their left hand; and likewise much cattle? 


These 120,000 represent babies. Jonah, the disgruntled 
and discredited prophet, sits out there soured upon life 
because Yahweh has not seen fit to wipe out 120,000 
babies at one fell stroke together with the rest of the great 
population. What a revolting picture! How narrow, how 
small, how inhuman Jonah looks! 

What is the bearing of the story on the situation in 
which it was written? The story is a parable, or allegory, 
of the history of Judah. Jonah represents the people of 
Judah. They were set in the world to make the goodness 
and justice of God known to all nations. They failed ut- 
terly to realize or accept their task. Therefore they were 
cast into exile, where they stayed until they came to some 
consciousness of theiriniquity. Finally, they were brought 
back home to Judah and given another chance to carry 
out their world-wide mission. But, like Jonah, they went 
about their work in a bitter and revengeful spirit, and were 
therefore open to severe rebuke and criticism. 

This story was called forth by the reform movement, 
which sought to eliminate all non-Jews from Judah and to 
keep the people of Yahweh pure and unsullied by contact 
with alien peoples. Instead of desiring the conversion of 
the nations to Yahweh, they were beseeching Yahweh for 
destructive vengeance upon the nations. The picture of 
Jonah frowning upon Nineveh was none too strong for 
the facts. 

The Book of Jonah thus becomes a great missionary 
tract. It is a plea for a human brotherhood that knows no 
national barriers and has room for no racial animosities or 


A CALL TO SERVICE rey 


antipathies. Far from being a mere ‘“‘fish-story” to be 
laughed at, it is a great missionary challenge. It carries on 
splendidly the great message of the “‘Servant of Yahweh 
Songs.” It puts to shame all petty human limitations and 
confidently declares that 


The love of God is broader than the measure of man’s mind, 
And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind. 


CHAPTER XV 
A NEW OUTBURST OF PROPHECY 


We gather up here in one bouquet the last fading flow- 
ers of prophecy. The books containing them are Joel; 
Zechariah, chapters 9-14; and Isaiah, chapters 24-27. 
The dates of them cannot be precisely determined. But 
that they are all post-exilic is beyond successful contradic- 
tion; and that they all come from the early part of the Greek 
period of Jewish history is generally conceded. Alexander 
the Great overthrew Darius III at Issus in 323 B.c., and 
Greece succeeded to the mastery of the oriental world. 
The aim of Alexander and his successors was not merely 
to acquire territory and conquer armies, but rather to 
conquer minds and cultures. The invasion of arms was 
but one step in the invasion of thought and life. The aim 
was to found a new Greece in Asia, to enlarge the Greek 
world. To this end strenuous efforts were put forth. 
Greek cities were founded in Asia Minor and Syria and 
Palestine. Greek customs, language, laws, and religion 
became the standard. Small comfort was given to the 
native cultures and faiths. This was all in striking con- 
trast to the attitude of the former Persian government, 
which had in general shown itself tolerant and kindly to 
all native institutions. If the Jews had felt themselves 
under an alien hand when the Persians ruled them, how 
much more did they so feel under the Greeks! The Jew- 
ish and the Semitic world had passed into the hands of 
men ‘“‘who knew not Joseph.” 


228 


A NEW OUTBURST OF PROPHECY 229 


In this group of prophecies coming from the Greek 
period, it is noteworthy that the interests of the prophets 
are of a quite different sort from those of their great pred- 
ecessors. The prophets of the days gone by had concerned 
themselves primarily with current issues. They had sought 
to encourage their contemporaries in the doing of justice 
and in acts of mercy. They had wrestled with the prob- 
lems of national and international politics of their own 
age. They had tried to build a new social order in which 
righteousness should reign supreme. But these writers 
have transferred their interests from the present to the 
future. They have lost hope in the possibility of remaking 
the present political and social order and are looking to 
the days to come for the Golden Age to dawn. Their in- 
terests are no longer ethical and social; they are eschato- 
logical. They despair of the present, and hope for the 
future. 

The two great topics of the book of Joel’ are the plague 
of locusts and the Day of Yahweh. The prophecies were 
perhaps called forth by the events attending the downfall 
of the Persian Empire, somewhere in the middle of the 
fourth century B.c. The two series of sermons on the 
plague and on the Day of Yahweh have been bound to- 
gether by editorial hands. The plague of locusts was it- 
self quite serious enough to have started a prophet to 
preach. For the prophets the laws of nature were the laws 
of God; and anything that was at all out of the usual run 
of things was interpreted as a direct intervention of God 
in human affairs. 


* For an introduction to Joel see J. A. Bewer, Joel (‘International 
Critical Commentary,” 1912); and F. C. Eiselen, The Prophetic Books of 
the Old Testament, II (1923), 380-404. 


230 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Perhaps his first address is found in chapter 2. Verses 
1a, 2, and 9, 10, are the work of the later editor, who sees 
in the locust plague a threatened Day of Yahweh. But 
the prophet is here talking about actual locusts and the 
devastation they were working. He pictures the land as 
looking like a region that has been swept by fire. He 
vividly describes the locusts themselves in terms of the 
movements of an invading army sweeping everything be- 
fore it. He regards this destructive scourge as a visitation 
of the wrath of God sent upon the Jewish people in pun- 
ishment for its sins.t He therefore sends forth a call to 
repentance.’ 

Again, in 1:2-14, 16-20, he gives a vivid and power- 
ful description of the havoc and consternation wrought by 
the locusts; and once more sends forth his call to an as- 
sembly for fasting and prayer: 


Hear this, you old men; 

And listen, all you inhabitants of the land. 

Has there ever been anything like this in your days, 
Or in the days of your fathers? 


Tell of it to your children, 
And your children in turn to their children, 
And their children to the following generations. 


What the cutter left, the destroyer has eaten; 
And what the destroyer left, the leaper has eaten; 
And what the leaper left, the finisher3 has eaten. 


* For a vivid description of the actual plague of locusts that swept 
over Judah and Jerusalem in 1914 A.D., see the article by John Whiting, 
National Geographic Magazine (December, 1915). It is there pointed 
out how strikingly accurate in his description of locusts this writer was. 

2 Joel 2:14, 3, 0,.12-14, 


3 These four epithets all are descriptive of the locusts. 


A NEW OUTBURST OF PROPHECY 231 


Wake up, you drunkards, and weep, 
And wail, all you drinkers of wine, 
For the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouths. 


For a nation has come up against my land; 
Strong and innumerable. 

His teeth are those of the lion; 

And he has the fangs of a lioness. 


He has made my vine a ruin, 

And my fig-tree a dry stick. 

He has stripped it bare and cast it out; 
Its vines are whitened. 


Wail, like a virgin girded with sackcloth, 

For the husband of her youth. 

Sacrifice and libation are cut off from the house of Yahweh; 
The priests, the ministers of Yahweh, mourn. 


The field is devastated; the ground mourns; 

Because the corn is ruined, the new wine is parched, the olive wilts; 
The ploughmen are ashamed, the vinedressers wail, 

For the wheat and for the barley, 

Because the increase of the field is lost. 


The vine is dried up and the fig-tree wilts; 

The pomegranate, the palm, and the apple-tree, 
All the trees of the field are withered; 

So that joy is withered away from the sons of men. 


Gird yourselves and lament, O you priests; 

Wail, you ministers of the altar. 

Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God; 

Because sacrifice and libation are withheld from the house of your 
God. 

Is not the food cut off before our eyes, 

From the house of our God, mirth and joy? 


Waste are the granaries, ruined are the barns, 
Because the corn is dried up: 
What shall we put in them? 


232 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


The herds of cattle wander about, 
For there is no pasture for them. 
The flocks of sheep, too, are destroyed. 


Unto thee, O Yahweh, do I call, 

For fire has devoured the pastures of the open country, 
And flame has burned all the trees of the field. 

The beasts of the field also pant unto thee, 

For the streams of water are dried up, 

And fire has devoured the pastures of the open country. 


In response to the urgent appeal of Joel, the people, 
led by the priests, called a meeting and proclaimed a fast. 
They went into this penitential movement with the en- 
thusiasm born of despair, willing to do anything to escape 
the ills under which they were suffering. In due time, the 
locusts passed on; and the invincible life-force in nature 
began to assert itself once more. Over this change of con- 
dition the prophet rejoices, and for it he praises God.? 

The rest of the book is concerned with the terrors of 
the coming Day of Yahweh. Its dawn will be attended by 
great psychical disturbances in the minds of men, so that 
old and young will be seeing visions and dreaming dreams. 
Thereupon will great wonders be manifested in the heav- 
ens and on earth, and great destructive powers let loose 
from which only those who worship Yahweh will escape. 

The great Day will see the gathering in the homeland 
of the Jews from all parts of the world. Likewise, the na- 
tions are to be assembled there in the valley of Jehosha- 
phat where Yahweh will enter into judgment with them 
for their past sins. As they have done to Judah so shall 
it be done to them. They sold the Jews into captivity in 
far countries; they themselves will be sold in like manner 


t Joel 2:14 ff. 2 Joel 2: 18-27. 3 Joel 2: 28-32. 


A NEW OUTBURST OF PROPHECY 233 


to distant peoples.t The nations will gather in innumer- 
able force for battle in the valley of Jehoshaphat, where 
Yahweh will overthrow them with his cataclysmic terrors. 
But Judah and Jerusalem will be recipients of the favor of 
Yahweh whose abode will be in Mount Zion.? It may be 
noticed here that Joel is dependent upon Ezekiel for this 
idea of the concentration of the nations for punishment in 
the land of Israel. 

The same type of thought and hope appears in Zech- 
ariah, chapters 9-14. The questions as to unity and au- 
thorship raised by these chapters cannot be discussed 
here. The text is split up into many sections, but the same 
general spirit and point of view dominate throughout. 
There may be contained in this collection of chapters 
oracles from several hands, but they are all concerned 
about the same things and they entertain the same hopes 
and fears. 

Destruction from Yahweh is foretold for all the peo- 
ples of the coast-lands; but Judah and Jerusalem are 
guaranteed safety by the presence of Yahweh.4 The Mes- 
siah is coming in triumph, though riding upon an animal 
emblematic of the peace he has conquered for his people. 
His dominion will be world-wide. He will make the Jews 
victorious over the Greeks and will crown their land with 
prosperity.s Yahweh will bless the land with fertility, and 
will lead forth his people to victory over their foes. The 
people of Northern Israel, long since carried into exile, 

t Joel 3:1-8. 

SOCL, 3-07-21. 

3 For discussion of the date of these chapters, see H. G. Mitchell, 
Haggai and Zechariah (1912), pp. 232-59; and F. C. Eiselen, The Pro- 
phetic Books of the Old Testament, II (1923), 560-83. 

4 Zech. 9:1-8. 5 Zech. 9:9-17. 


234 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


and, as a matter of fact, lost by assimilation with the 
population among whom they had settled down, are nev- 
ertheless to be brought back and united with the Jews 
once more as the people of Yahweh. The great nations are 
to be overthrown, and the people of Yahweh will dwell in 
triumphant security." 

In chapter 11, we seem to have an allegory in which 
the prophet is describing conditions as they actually were 
in his day. He dare not single out the Greek ruler and 
denounce him openly, but he does it with safety in this 
cryptic fashion. He seems to have, in part, at least, acted 
out the part of a shepherd who had been given charge of a 
flock of sheep, but proved faithless to his charge, leaving 
the sheep to the cruel mercies of robbers and fleecers. He 
represents the shepherd as deliberately breaking the staves 
that were the symbols of his responsibility, and thereby 
repudiating all responsibility for the welfare of the flock. 
He then shows the shepherd as claiming his reward from 
those who had enriched themselves by his connivance, 
and as having been given only the value of a mere slave. 
This the shepherd deposited in the treasury for safekeep- 
ing. This was all apparently a picture of the attitude of 
the king in the prophet’s own time, who failed utterly in 
his duties as protector of his people and left them to the 
extortions of tax collectors and other underlings. Per- 
haps the king in question was Ptolemy III (246 B.c.), to 
whom the Jews were subject.? The prophet seems to have 
passed on from him to his son, Ptolemy IV,3 and to have 

tZech. 10: 1-12. 

2It has been suggested that 11:6 is a gloss and that the three shep- 
herds there symbolize Antiochus III, Seleucus IV, and Heliodorus; see 


Mitchell, Joc. cit. 
$ Zech. 12:15 ff. 


A NEW OUTBURST OF PROPHECY 235 


represented him as even worse than his father. But after 
a period of fiery trial" the false shepherd will fall and the 
sorely afflicted and decimated people will find rest under 
the protection of Yahweh. 

In 12:1—13:6, the familiar thought of the nations be- 
ing gathered against Jerusalem again appears. But Jeru- 
salem will spell disaster and destruction for all of them. 
An interesting light is cast upon the political jealousies of 
the writer’s times when it is said that the countryside of 
Judah is to be given the priority in the victorious cam- 
paign lest Jerusalem and its leaders should get too much 
glory as compared with the rest of the land. A part of the 
work of the messianic age is to involve a change of heart 
in the people of Jerusalem so that they will repent of their 
wickedness and mourn for their sins. Allusion is made in 
12:10 to some victim of the people’s violence in days gone 
by for whom in their new and penitent frame of mind the 
people will be stricken with grief and remorse. The iden- 
tity of this victim cannot be recognized; the only thing 
clear is that the event had already occurred when this 
prophet wrote. Another fact of interest is the attitude of 
this prophet toward the prophets of his time. He evi- 
dently looked upon them as a bad lot, and foresaw the 
day as close at hand when their true character would be 
generally known, with the result that no man would be 
willing to be known as a prophet, but would blatantly 
deny the fact if he did belong to that class. 

The fourteenth chapter is a collection of apocalyptic 
wonders and terrors. The city will be attacked and cap- 
tured by the nations, who will carry into exile half of its 
population. But Yahweh will take the field against the 

“Zech. :13:7 ff. 


236 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


nations, taking up his position on the Mount of Olives to 
the east of the city. Thereupon the Mount of Olives will 
be cleft asunder, one-half of it moving to the north and 
the other to the.south, thus opening up a valley in the 
midst of it. Not only so, but the regular order of day and 
night will be set aside and will give way to continuous 
daylight. To add to the delights of the new Jerusalem, a 
perennial stream will spring up therein and will flow in 
two directions, half of it toward the Mediterranean and 
half of it toward the Dead Sea. The topography of Jeru- 
salem is also to be changed radically in another particu- 
lar. Whereas the real Jerusalem was and is surrounded 
by hills and valleys, the new city is to be the center of a 
great plain, stretching out from it in all directions. The 
nations that attacked Jerusalem and vanquished her in 
the past are to fall a prey to a devastating disease, their 
bodies rotting away and falling to pieces where they 
stand. Civil war also will set in among them. So Jerusa- 
lem will be rendered secure, and will become the holy 
center to which all the peoples of the earth that survive 
will come as pilgrims to keep the feast of tabernacles. 
If they fail to come to that feast, rain will be withheld 
from upon them; but in Egypt, where rain is unknown, 
the punishment will be the failure of the Nile to overflow. 
Everything in and about the Temple of Yahweh will be 
holy, even the pots and pans. But traders will be un- 
known in the house of Yahweh. 

The third of our prophets is represented by chapters 
24-27 of the Book of Isaiah. These chapters are made up 

*For date and authorship, see G. B. Gray, Isaiah (“International 


Critical Commentary,” 1912), pp. 397-404; Eiselen, The Prophetic Books 
of the Old Testament, I (1923), 167-73. 


A NEW OUTBURST OF PROPHECY 237 


of two types of material, viz., prophetico-apocalypse and 
lyrical poetry. The first of these includes Isa. 21:1-23; 
We 0 -55720720---27 1; 27:12, 13. Lhe second stratum: is 
eae 2 Geto .071231202 1-19; 27:2-11.) Lhese:may be from 
different authors, but the general tone and content of the 
two strands are very much alike. 

The apocalypticist looks for a complete overthrow of 
the existing social order of the world. This great catas- 
trophe is to be sent upon the earth in punishment of the 
sins of the nations. But Yahweh will reign supreme in 
Zion and his people will be undisturbed. Not merely so, 
but the prosperity of Jerusalem is to be so great as to 
make the city the cynosure of all eyes. Best of all, in that 
city the last great enemy, Death, is to be vanquished.’ 
While the great punishment of the nations is taking place, 
the Jews are to shut themselves up in Jerusalem in their 
houses and so escape falling under Yahweh’s scourge. 
The exiles will then return home from all countries whith- 
er they have been scattered, and will gather to worship 
Yahweh in Jerusalem.? 

The lyric poet sings a song of gratitude to Yahweh for 
the overthrow of the nations that he sees about to come. 
Moab, in particular, is to be laid low. He rejoices in the 
strength of Zion made strong by Yahweh’s presence. He 
extols the faith of the pious and exhorts to a continuance 
thereof. He makes acknowledgment of the people’s in- 
debtedness to Yahweh, who has done for them that for 
which they had waited and hoped so long. The foes of 
Judah are dead and will stay dead. His mind reverts to 
the past when Judah had anxiously waited and prayed 
and nothing seemed to have been accomplished. But he 


tIsa. 24:1-23; 25:6-8. 2JTsa. 26:20—27:1 and 27:12f. 


238 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


leaps from these sad memories to buoyant hope, and de- 
clares that while the foes of Judah are permanently laid 
low, the Jews who have died in the long struggle will come 
to life again and resume their places upon earth in bodily 
form." 

His last song? is a reminiscence of Isaiah’s ‘‘Song of the 
Vineyard” in Isaiah, chapter 5. But here the vineyard is 
assured of Yahweh’s constant care and protection. All 
who would encroach upon it are destined to be destroyed; 
and the vineyard will supply the whole world with fruit. 
The remaining verses’ are foreign to the foregoing song 
and to the following apocalypse, and seem, therefore, an 
independent fragment. They seem to claim that the pun- 
ishment of Judah was not so severe as that of the foes of 
Judah. The city and fortress of this foe is to be laid in 
ruins and turned into pasture land, because the inhabit- 
ants refused to be instructed of Yahweh. 

It is characteristic of the apocalyptic material and 
point of view so largely adopted by these three groups of 
prophecies that they are primarily eschatological in their 
interpretation of their situation. They have lost hope of 
any human change in their condition. They are intently 
looking forward to the intervention of Yahweh by a sud- 
den irruption into human affairs. The existing order is 
to be done away with. The outlook for the future is 
throughout universal in that it reckons with both Judah 
and the world at large. It is clearly recognized that the 
fate of Judah cannot be settled apart from the lot of the 
nations. But Judah is destined to take the lead of the new 
world as representative of Yahweh upon earth. The na- 
tions are to receive a well-deserved punishment. But this 


* Isa. 2521-5, 9-12; 26:1-19. 2Isa. 27. 220; 3 Isa, 27:7-11. 


A NEW OUTBURST OF PROPHECY 239 


punishment is revoltingly cruel in some of its features. 
The old ethical passion of the great prophets has almost 
wholly disappeared. Ritual comes in for a much larger 
recognition than it ever received at the hands of the great 
masters. One outstanding feature of these writers is their 
absolute disregard of realities. Their pictures of the future 
are drawn with no reference to the world as it was in their 
day. They did not even feel themselves bound by geo- 
graphical and geological limitations. In this, as in other 
things, they were the spiritual children of Ezekiel, the 
“father of Judaism.” 


CHAPTER XVI 
DANIEL AND THE MACCABEES 


We cannot here take space for a discussion of the argu- 
ments for the Maccabean date of the Book of Daniel. We 
must be content with referring the reader to the excellent 
discussions of the subject already available.* Suffice it to 
say that the historical inaccuracies in the statements re- 
garding the exilic and earlier post-exilic periods, and also 
in those dealing with the post-Maccabean age, on the one 
hand, and the minute and detailed knowledge that the 
book displays of the Maccabean period, on the other hand, 
combine to make the case for the Maccabean origin of the 
book practically irrefutable. 

The historical situation out of which the Book of Daniel 
came may be briefly sketched. Antiochus IV was on the 
throne of Syria, and therefore was the king to whom the 
Jews were subject. Antiochus was an ambitious but vain 
ruler. He gloried in the title ““Epiphanes,” i.e., the Mani- 
fest One; but some of his suffering subjects preferred to 
call him ‘‘Epimanes,”’ i.e., the Madman. He was desirous 
of hastening the process of Hellenizing the Orient. That 
process had already gone far, and was still moving rapid- 
ly; but not rapidly enough to satisfy the demand of the 
vainglorious king. He therefore sought to achieve his end 

t See, e.g., S. R. Driver, Daniel (Cambridge Bible, 1900); R. H. 
Charles, Daniel (New Century Bible, 1912); G. B. Gray, Critical Intro- 
duction to the Old Testament (1913); F. C. Eiselen, The Psalms and Other 


Sacred Writings (1918), pp. 251-88. For the traditional point of view, see 
R. D. Wilson, Studies in the Book of Daniel (1917). 


240 


DANIEL AND THE MACCABEES 241 


by force. He came to the throne of Syria in 175 B.c. A 
quarrel arose with Egypt over the possession of Palestine 
which wound up in war in 173 B.c. Antiochus prevailed 
and penetrated Egypt itself as far as Alexandria, from the 
siege of which Antiochus was recalled by matters of press- 
ing importance at home. On the way back, he stopped 
at Jerusalem. Trouble had broken out there between the 
party desirous of holding fast to the old Hebrew tradi- 
tions and the opposing party that sought to liberalize 
Judaism, and to ape the Greeks as much as possible. 
Antiochus soon after his accession had deposed Onias, the 
high priest, a representative of the Hebrew element, and 
had put in his place Jason, who was more amenable to the 
desires of Antiochus and had paid him a heavy bribe for 
the position. Jason had established a Greek gymnasium 
almost under the shadow of the Temple itself. This be- 
came a popular place, and the very priests in their eager- 
ness to participate in the sports neglected their official 
duties. 

The party of Onias naturally resented this sort of 
thing, and the two groups came to blows. Onias was 
driven from the city in flight to Egypt. But Jason was 
not left to enjoy the fruits of his victory. Menelaus, who 
was not a member of the priestly order, offered Antiochus, 
who was still in Egypt, a larger bribe than Jason had 
given; and Menelaus naturally was given the position. 
This Jason resented violently, and organizing a force he 
captured Menelaus and imprisoned him in the citadel. 
To put these fighting malcontents in their place, Antio- 
chus made his side trip to Jerusalem (170 B.c.). While 
there he plundered the Temple of its treasure, which was 
probably his main motive in visiting the city, and put a 


242 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


large number of the citizens to death. But two years later 
worse things befell the city. Antiochus had invaded Egypt 
again only to be met by a Roman legate who commanded 
him in the name of the Senate to return home. The Ro- 
man power was too formidable to be openly flouted. Hence 
Antiochus returned in bad humor to his own land (168 
B.c.). Very soon thereafter he turned his attention again 
to Jerusalem. This time he went to work in earnest to 
turn the Jews into Greeks, or at least to turn them from 
the worship of Yahweh to the worship of Zeus. He had a 
Greek altar erected on top of the altar of burnt-offering 
(December, 168 B.c.). Here sacrifices were to be made to 
Zeus. This is what the writer of Daniel calls ‘“‘the abom- 
ination of desolation.’”’ He placed a Syrian garrison in the 
citadel of Jerusalem, and destroyed the walls of the city. 
He issued decrees prohibiting the practice of circumcision, 
the offering of sacrifice to Yahweh, the reading and pos- 
session of the Jewish Scriptures, the observance of the 
Sabbath, and other rites of Yahwism. He sent a commis- 
sion throughout the cities and villages of Palestine to de- 
stroy all evidences of Yahwistic practices and to force the 
population to conform to the new regulations. He caused 
swine to be sacrificed in the Temple on the Greek altar; 
and he forced the priests to eat the sacrificed flesh, so that 
they became unclean and unfit for the discharge of their 
proper functions. 

To the loyal worshipers of Yahweh, this situation was 
intolerable. It would compel them to violate every high 
and holy ideal and to be untrue to their deepest loyalties. 
Many of the weaker sort fell in with the royal demands. 
But the bravest and best refused to conform. Among 
these was Mattathias, a priest of Modein, a village over- 


DANIEL AND THE MACCABEES 243 


looking the Dead Sea. One day the royal inspector came 
to Modein and ordered the Jews to celebrate a sacrifice to 
Zeus. As a renegade Jewish priest was in the act of offering 
the idolatrous sacrifice, Mattathias leaped upon him and 
slew him. Then he turned and slew the Syrian officials. 
Mattathias thereupon fled to the hills with his five stal- 
wart sons, where kindred spirits joined them. Judas 
Maccabeus, the most vigorous of the sons of Mattathias, 
took the lead of the band; and the Maccabean revolt 
gained rapid headway. It was not halted until a Macca- 
bean king sat upon the royal throne in Jerusalem. Mean- 
time, the patriots and zealots recaptured the city of Jeru- 
salem, with the exception of the citadel, and proceeded to 
cleanse the Temple and to rededicate it to the worship of 
Yahweh. The dedication took place on the twenty-fifth 
of Chislev (= December), 165 B.c., just three years from 
the day upon which the first pagan offerings had defiled it." 

The Book of Daniel comes out of the midst of the 
Maccabean struggle. It was written as a pamphlet for 
those times. It was an attempt to hearten the Jews in the 
great conflict. It sought as best it could to sustain the 
“morale” of the faithful. It did this in two general ways. 
First, it told a series of stories from the past which fur- 
nished encouraging evidence of the fact that Yahweh 
had taken care of his servants in the past amid all kinds 
of dangers. Ought he not to be trusted to care for his 
people again in their time of need? Second, it gave a 
series of visions granted to holy men in days gone by. In 
these visions, the entire history of the Jews in particular 
and the world in general is foretold down to and beyond 


‘ Our chief sources of information for the history of the Maccabean 
period are I Maccabees and Josephus. 


244 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


the Maccabean period. These visions promised deliver- 
ance and glory to the Jews in the days to come. They 
accurately foretold the history from the time of the exile 
up to the Maccabean period, at least so far as the ordinary 
man knew. Could they not, therefore, be trusted in their 
account of the period yet to come? It was all in the future 
for Daniel; he had been correct in his predictions for a 
period covering approximately four hundred years; surely 
it would be unreasonable to distrust him in his predictions 
for the next few years! 

The stories from the past were admirably selected for 
the purpose of the Maccabean author. They bore direct- 
ly and immediately upon the needs and problems of his 
own day.’ The first story (chap. 1) relates how Daniel 
and his three friends were chosen with other young men 
to undergo a course of training in preparation for entry 
into the king’s service. The best of food and drink was 
provided for them from the king’s table, but Daniel and 
his friends could not eat and drink these things and be 
true to the requirements of their own religion. Hence they 
besought the chief officer and obtained permission to go 
on trial for ten days, during which time their diet was 
made up of nothing but pulse and water. At the end of 
the period of probation their appearance and condition 
were better than what those who had eaten the royal viands 
could show. So they were permitted to adhere to this 
simple diet for the entire period of three years. At the 
end, they were brought in with the other youths before 
the king and were found superior to them all, not only in 


tIt is quite probable that the materials in Daniel, chaps. 1-6, were 
in existence for some time before the Maccabean period. But the maker 
of the Book of Daniel recognized their value for his purpose and incor- 
porated them, with the necessary editing, in his book. 


DANIEL AND THE MACCABEES 245 


appearance, but also in wisdom and knowledge. They 
were indeed ‘“‘ten times better than all the magicians and 
enchanters that were in all his realm.” They therefore 
were chosen as the king’s attendants and advisers. A 
story like this was great encouragement to a people who 
were ordered to eat unclean food and were fighting for the 
privilege of keeping themselves ‘‘clean’” and undefiled. 
The God who helped Daniel and his friends in days past 
would also help his people now in a similar situation. 
The second story (chap. 2) represents Nebuchadrezzar 
as having dreamed a dream which he could not remember. 
He called all the wise men and magicians of Babylon and 
ordered them to tell him what the dream was and what it 
signified. They declared this to be an impossible task and 
an unheard-of demand. But he insisted and enforced his 
demand by the threat of death to all the wise men if they 
failed to furnish the necessary information. At this junc- 
ture, Daniel asked for a little time, which was granted. 
He and his three friends at once betook themselves to 
prayer, and the dream and its meaning were revealed to 
Daniel in a vision from Yahweh. Daniel thereupon com- 
municated his information to the king, telling him what 
he had dreamed and what the dream signified. In doing 
this he impressed upon the king the fact that none but 
Yahweh could enable his servants to know and interpret 
this dream. The king prostrated himself before Daniel in 
acknowledgment of the power of Daniel’s God, and at 
once appointed Daniel viceroy of the whole of Babylonia, 
with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego as his chief offi- 
cers. In this way, the writer of the book emphasizes the 
supremacy of Yahweh, the God of Judah, over all the 
gods of the empire. The interpretation of the king’s vision 


246 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


may be indicated, for it is in brief outline the foundation 
of all the visions in the second portion of the book. Nebu- 
chadrezzar is represented by the head of gold. The next 
kingdom inferior to his was that of the Persians. The 
third, or brazen kingdom, was thought of by the writer 
as the kingdom of the Medes. The fourth kingdom was 
that of Alexander the Great. The “‘division”’ of that king- 
dom represents the separation of Alexander’s great em- 
pire into the kingdom of Syria, under the Seleucids, and 
the kingdom of Egypt, under the Ptolemies. In the days 
of this divided kingdom, the messianic Kingdom is to come 
into being and to overthrow all existing powers, after 
which it will continue in power forever. 

The story of the fiery furnace is told in the third chap- 
ter. Nebuchadrezzar is said to have set up a golden image 
on the plain of Dura and to have ordered all men every- 
where to bow in worship before it whenever the trumpets 
should blow. The report was brought to him that Shad- 
rach, Meshach, and Abed-nego refused to worship the im- 
age that he had erected. Nebuchadrezzar, filled with rage, 
sent for the three Jews and ordered them on pain of 
death by fire to worship his image. To this demand the 
young Jews replied that if their God was able he would 
deliver them from the king’s power; but if not, yet they 
would not compromise themselves by worshiping the 
king’s image. The king, thoroughly enraged at this de- 
fiance, ordered them hurled into the burning fiery furnace, 
which had been heated seven times as hot as usual for 
this especial occasion. Indeed, so fierce was the heat that 
the men who hurled the youths in were themselves slain 
by it. But, mirabile dictu, the Jewish youths were seen 
walking in the midst of the flames accompanied by a 


DANIEL AND THE MACCABEES 247 


fourth person who looked like a celestial being. The king 
in amazement ordered the young men to come forth from 
the furnace, when it was seen that the fire had failed to 
touch them in any way, save to burn away the bonds with 
which they had been bound. There was not even any 
smell of fire upon them! The result of this extraordinary 
event was that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were 
promoted and that Nebuchadrezzar issued a decree pro- 
hibiting his subjects from saying anything against the 
God of the Jews, the supreme God. A story of this sort 
that was believed would, of course, embolden the Jews 
immeasurably in their loyalty to God. The “if not” of 
Shadrach and his friends may seem to have required 
extraordinary faith, but no greater faith than was actu- 
ally exhibited by the Maccabeans in the great struggle.” 

The fourth chapter relates King Nebuchadrezzar’s 
experience. He dreamed a dream which none of his coun- 
selors could understand. But Daniel understood it and 
interpreted it as meaning that Yahweh was going to smite 
Nebuchadrezzar in the midst of his glory and power with 
madness, so that for seven years he would be an associate 
of the beasts of the field. After that period was over, he 
would return to his throne and acknowledge the power of 
the true God. All this came upon Nebuchadrezzar as 
foretold, and the restored Nebuchadrezzar became a fol- 
lower and worshiper of Yahweh. How applicable this 
story was to the Maccabean situation! Antiochus was 
commonly regarded as at least half crazed. What a com- 
fort to feel that he would be brought to his senses and 
made to see the glory of God! 

The feast of Belshazzar is described in the fifth chap- 

2 See e.g., 1 Macc. 1:62 f.; Il Macc. 6:18 ff.; 7:1 ff. 


248 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


ter. As the king was celebrating a great feast at which the 
captured vessels from the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem 
were being used by the king and his wives and concubines 
and were thus being desecrated in the vilest manner, the 
fingers of a hand appeared on a wall of the banqueting 
hall and wrote some mysterious hieroglyphs thereupon. 
The king was filled with terror and appealed to the magi- 
cians for an interpretation, but in vain. Then the queen 
came to the rescue, suggesting that Daniel, who had been 
highly honored by Nebuchadrezzar,* should be called, for 
he had solved such riddles before. Daniel came in re- 
sponse to the summons of the king, and proceeded to de- 
liver a pointed homily to him upon the way in which 
Nebuchadrezzar had been punished by Yahweh for his 
failure to acknowledge the lordship of Yahweh, and the 
fact that Belshazzar seemed to have learned nothing from 
the experience of his great predecessor. Therefore Yah- 
weh had sent this message to the king. The message con- 
sisted of three Aramaic words, the first one being repeat- 
ed: Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin. These are interpreted as 
meaning: mene, “‘“God has numbered your kingdom and 
brought it to an end”; fekel, ‘“You are weighed in the 
balances and found wanting”’; peres,? ““Your kingdom is 
divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” The king 
at once commanded that Daniel be decorated and made 
one of the three chief rulers of the kingdom. That very 


t Nebuchadrezzar is here called ‘“‘father of Belshazzar,” but Bel- 
shazzar was the son of Nabonidus, who was a usurper, and in no way 
related to Nebuchadrezzar. Nor was Belshazzar “king,” as he is here 
called. Nabonidus reigned up to the last minute of the Babylonian 
Empire’s existence. 


2'This is the singular form, while uwpharsin is the plural form pre- 
ceded by the conjunction meaning “and.” 


DANIEL AND THE MACCABEES 249 


night Belshazzar was slain.? Belshazzar is but Antiochus 
Epiphanes in disguise. The fate dealt out to him is what 
the Maccabeans ardently desired for Antiochus. His 
treatment of the sacred vessels is of one piece with the 
attitude of Antiochus toward the Temple and the Jew- 
ish religion. Such a story as this would do much to main- 
tain the morale of the struggling Jews. 

The last of these stories carries us on into the time of 
Darius, the Mede.? He had given Daniel high place in 
the empire, and was contemplating giving him the chief 
executive position. This aroused great jealousy among 
rival officials, and they set about to compass his ruin. 
They realized that the only vulnerable point in his life 
was his religion. Consequently, they persuaded the king 
to issue a decree that no prayer or request should be ad- 
dressed to any god or man for the next thirty days on 
pain of death for any such offender. Daniel naturally 
learned of this, but he went into his upper room, with 
windows wide open toward Jerusalem, and prayed three 
times a day, as was his custom. His enemies, who were 
on the watch, reported this to Darius and insisted that 
Daniel should not be made an exception, but should be 
cast into a den of lions, in accordance with the law. The 
king protested and pleaded in Daniel’s behalf, but in vain. 
The royal decree could not be set aside. With the king’s 

t On the day of Belshazzar’s death, the Persians had already captured 


Babylon and were in possession of the empire. Hence Belshazzar’s power 
to bestow honors of any value was gone. 


2 There was no kingdom of the Medes in control of Babylonia. The 
Babylonians were immediately succeeded by the Persians, under Cyrus. 
Probably Darius I, the Persian, is really meant. His reign lasted from 
521-485 B.c. This would make Daniel to have been almost one hundred 
years old. However, Darius is thought of here (Dan. 6:29) as having 
preceded Cyrus the Persian. But no such king is known. 


250 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


reluctant consent, Daniel was taken in the evening and 
thrown among the lions. The king spent a bad night, 
sleepless and fasting. At break of day he hurried to the 
lion’s den and called out in anxiety to Daniel to know 
whether or not he was alive. Daniel replied that he was 
unharmed and had been protected by an angel of God. 
He was at once released, and his persecutors, with their 
wives and children, were thrown to the hungry lions, 
who made short work of them. Then Darius issued 
an order that Daniel’s God be worshiped and feared 
throughout the empire. This victory for Daniel and his 
God is said to have been made possible because Daniel 
“trusted in his God.’* The moral for the Maccabean 
saints was plain and the promise alluring. Inspired by 
such hopes, they remained loyal to their ideals and faith- 
ful to their God through hard and trying experiences, un- 
til they reached the desired goal. 

The second half of the book is given up to the record 
of four great visions seen by Daniel the prophet in the 
first and third years of Belshazzar, the first year of 
Darius (the son of Ahasuerus),? and the third year 
of Cyrus. They all say the same thing, but in the last 
vision it is worked out in much greater detail than in 
the others. The method of the visions is to begin with the 
exile period and skip rapidly over the early empires until 
the Greek Empire is reached. Then the narrative ex- 
pands into more or less detail and becomes quite specific. 
But upon passing on into the unknown future, vagueness 
and generalities become the rule. Indeed, it is surprising 
that there is as much of the definite and specific in the 

* Dan. 6:25. 

2T.e., Xerxes; no such king as Darius, the son of Xerxes, is known. 


DANIEL AND THE MACCABEES 251 


genuine predictions as there is. If the writer had been 
primarily concerned to “‘play safe,” he would have given 
less opportunity for error. 

The first vision’ represents four beasts rising out of the 
sea. These four beasts are said to stand for four kings that 
are to rise to power. Practically nothing is said about the 
first three, but they were representative of Babylonia, 
Medea, and Persia, respectively. The individual kings 
were probably Nebuchadrezzar, Darius the Mede, and 
Cyrus. The fourth beast is described as terrible and 
dreadful and is given much attention. This was clearly 
Alexander the Great, the representative of Greece. The 
ten horns of this beast represent the kings that shall arise 
out of the kingdom of Greece. This is the way of describ- 
ing the successors of Alexander the Great prior to the 
accession of Antiochus Epiphanes. These successors were 
Seleucus I (312-280 B.c.), Antiochus I (279-261 B.c.), 
Antiochus II (260-246 B.c.), Seleucus IT (245-226 B.c.), 
Seleucus III (225-223 B.c.), Antiochus III the Great 
(222-187 B.c.), and Seleucus IV (186-176 B.c.). The last 
three of the ten were “plucked up” by Antiochus IV, and 
were therefore his contemporaries. Judgments vary as to 
their identity, but they may have been Heliodorus, prime 
minister of Seleucus IV, who sought the crown but never 
held it; Demetrius, son of Seleucus IV and the lawful heir 
to his father’s throne, who was held prisoner in Rome; 
and Ptolemy VII, king of Egypt, whom some wished to 
have as king, had not Antiochus supplanted him.? Fol- 
lowing these ten horns came “a little horn,” in which 
“were eyes like those of a man and a mouth speaking great 

* Daniel, chap. 7. 

2 See Driver’s Commentary, pp. 101 f., for the varying views. 


252 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


things.” This is none other than Antiochus Epiphanes, 
who, it is said, will ‘‘think to change the seasons and the 
law” and ‘‘will wear out the saints of the Most High.” 
But the vision sees the Ancient of Days upon his throne 
surrounded by myriads of angels. He judges the beasts 
and condemns the fourth beast to be burned with fire. 
Not only so, but the seer beholds ‘‘one like unto a man” 
who was brought before the great throne of God and was 
given dominion forever over all nations and tongues. This 
is the Messiah, and he hands over the kingdom forever to 
the “saints of the Most High’’—in other words, the faith- 
ful Jews. However, the dominion of Antiochus is to last 
for ‘‘a time, two times, and half a time,” 1.e., for three and 
a half years. This period is best reckoned as lasting from 
the edict of Antiochus issued in the summer of 168 B.c. to 
the rededication of the Temple in December, 165 B.c. 
The second vision’ again makes use of animals and 
horns. First of all, a ram with two horns appeared, the 
one horn being higher than the other and coming up later. 
This was later interpreted to Daniel as representative of 
the two kingdoms of the Medes and the Persians. Then a 
goat came into view with a conspicuous horn on his 
head. He overthrew the ram and swept away all oppo- 
nents. But the horn was finally broken and in place of it 
came up four horns. This was explained to Daniel as 
representing the kingdom of Greece with its great world- 
conqueror, Alexander the Great. He in turn was succeed- 
ed by his four generals, under whom the empire was bro- 
ken up into four kingdoms and correspondingly weakened. 
Out of them in turn came up a little horn which waxed 
strong and magnified itself against God. This was, of 
t Daniel, chap. 8. 


DANIEL AND THE MACCABEES 253 


course, Antiochus IV, who did away with the continual 
burnt-offering in 168 B.c. Daniel heard a voice asking how 
long this should continue and another voice answering: 
“Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and 
mornings; then will the sanctuary be victorious.” This 
seems to mean that the period during which the continual 
burnt-offering, that was offered morning and evening, is 
to cease will be eleven hundred and fifty days. This would 
be about three years and two months; the actual period, 
according to I Macc. 1:54; 4:52-53, was three years and 
ten days. Finally, Antiochus is to be “broken without 
hand,” i.e., by some divine agency, not by human forces." 

The third vision? came at the conclusion of a long pe- 
riod of prayer on Daniel’s part in which he besought Yah- 
weh to intervene in behalf of his afflicted people. It is an 
outpouring of a penitent soul that is admirable in concep- 
tion and beautiful in expression. It is one of the great 
recorded prayers of history. The vision itself is the short- 
est of all visions. It is wholly chronological in form. ‘‘The 
man Gabriel” informs Daniel that a total period of sev- 
enty weeks has been decreed during which the people of 
Judah are to suffer for their sins. That these ‘‘weeks” are 
to be understood as made up of years instead of days is 
clear from the way in which the period is worked out. 
Jeremiah had predicted “seventy years” of punishment; 
but that period had long since expired; hence the later 
writers had expanded it to seven times seventy years by 
changing years into septads of years. This would bring 


t Antiochus died suddenly in 164 B.c. at Tabae in Persia of some 
mysterious ailment (I Macc. 6:5-16). 

2 Daniel, chap. 9. 

3 The foundation of this method of interpretation was laid in Lev. 
26:18, 21, 24, 28, and II Chron. 36: 2o0f. 


254 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


the entire period of four hundred and ninety years to an 
end in 97 B.c. The error involved in this was due to the 
writer’s incomplete knowledge of the period between the 
return from exile and his own times. Gabriel then pro- 
ceeds to break up the seventy weeks of years into three 
periods. The first week of years is to extend from the fall 
of Jerusalem in 587 B.c. to the coming of Cyrus in 538 
B.C., a total of forty-nine years. Cyrus was called “‘Anoint- 
ed” or “Messiah” by the unknown prophet of the exile. 
Then for sixty-two weeks the city is to stand rebuilt, but 
in continual trouble. This period is too long; it shows an 
error in the writer’s calculations. But this error was part 
of the common reckoning of his times. All other computa- 
tions of the period known to us from the ancient world 
show the same or a similar mistake.? The date of the 
close of this second period of weeks which the writer had 
in mind is clearly indicated by the fact with which he 
closes the period (vs. 26). The cutting off of an anointed 
one to which he refers is, apparently, the murder of Onias 
IIT at the instigation of his rival Menelaus in 171 B.c. 
The closing week of years beginning in 171 B.c. would 
end in 165 B.c. The prince of the period is naturally 
Antiochus IV. He destroys the city and the Temple. He 
makes a firm covenant with many, who are, of course, the 
renegades who have gone over body and soul to Hellen- 
ism. He suspends the services of the Temple and the pre- 
scribed daily sacrifices for half a week. This Antiochus 
actually did, so that there was no regular offering from 
the fifteenth of Chislev, 168 B.c., to the twenty-fifth of 
Chislev, 165 B.c. During that period the altar of Zeus was 
“causing appalment” in the Temple. But utter destruc- 
tIsa. 45:1; cf. 44:26, 28; 45:13. 2 See Driver, op. cit., p. 147. 


DANIEL AND THE MACCABEES 255 


tion will come upon the king and the abhorrent altar will 
be destroyed. The Maccabeans restored the temple rites 
in 165 B.c., but Antiochus lived until 164 B.c. 

The last vision is of extended character.’ It is more 
detailed and specific than any of the preceding visions. It 
covers the years immediately prior to and including the 
Maccabean revolt with much particularity and definite- 
ness. But after the promise of the “‘little help” furnished 
by the Maccabean revolt the narrative fades away again 
into generalities. This vision is represented as having 
come after a period of fasting and prayer that lasted three 
weeks. The actual vision that greeted Daniel’s eyes as he 
reports it was that of a glorious being in the form of aman, 
the sight of whom overcame him. But an intermediary 
agent strengthened and sustained Daniel so that he was 
able at length to listen to the words of the glorious one. 
He is told that there will be yet three more kings of Persia 
after Cyrus. The fourth king of Persia will stir up a war 
against Greece. This is, of course, a reference to the cam- 
paigns of Xerxes against Greece, made famous by the 
great battles at Thermopylae, Marathon, and Salamis. 
The seven or eight remaining kings of Persia are ignored. 
The narrative passes right on at once to the rise of Alex- 
ander the Great.? The downfall of Alexander and the divi- 
sion of his empire among his four generals is being briefly 
sketched. Then the prediction passes on to the reorgan- 
ization of the territory into the kingdoms of Syria and 
Egypt. 

The first king of the southern kingdom was Ptolemy I, 
of Egypt. The prince who rose up under him and became 
stronger than his master was Seleucus I, the founder of 

* Daniel, chaps. 10-12. 2 Dan. 11:3, 4. 3 Dan. 11:5 f. 


256 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


the Seleucidean dynasty in Syria. The prediction then 
passes on to the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 
B.C.), who sought to end the long struggle with Syria for 
the possession of Palestine by marrying his daughter, 
Berenice, to Antiochus II (261-246 B.c.), of Syria, stipu- 
lating that Antiochus should divorce the wife he already 
had and disinherit his two sons. Thus Syria stood in a 
fair way to become part of the Egyptian domain. But 
Ptolemy died after two years and all his plans came to 
naught. Antiochus took back his first wife and divorced 
the Egyptian princess, Berenice. Laodice, the first wife, 
determined to make assurance doubly sure, murdered her 
husband and induced her own son, Seleucus, to make his 
own claim to the throne secure by murdering Berenice and 
her baby. 

The murder of Berenice was not unavenged. Her 
brother, Ptolemy Euergetes (247-222 B.C.), invaded Syria 
and pushed as far east as Babylon. He was prevented 
from making himself master of Syria as a whole by dis- 
turbances in his own country which forced his return 
home. He came back a victor loaded with spoils.* Seleu- 
cus recovered his territory in 242 B.c., but when he in- 
vaded Egypt he was defeated in 240 B.c. and fled back 
home. 

The conflicts of Seleucus III (226-223 B.c.) and Antio- 
chus III (223-187 B.c.), known as “the Great,” with 
Ptolemy IV (222-205 B.c.) and Ptolemy V (205-181 B.c.) 
are then ‘“‘foretold.”? These ended in the great battle at 
Raphia (205 B.c.) in which Antiochus was completely 
defeated. After twelve years, during which Antiochus 
had made his reputation as “the Great” by his conquests 


t Dan. 11:7-9. 2 Dan. 12: 10-10. 3 Dan. 12:11, 12. 


DANIEL AND THE MACCABEES 257 


in the east, a treaty was made between Syria and Mace- 
donia for a joint attack upon Egypt, now under the rule of 
an infant king, and a division of its territory. This brought 
about the end of the power of Egypt in Syria and Pal- 
estine. Antiochus made peace with Egypt and cemented 
it by marrying his daughter, Cleopatra, “the daughter of 
women,” to Ptolemy Epiphanes, king of Egypt (194- 
193 B.c.). But Antiochus lost the support of Rome which 
was transferred to Ptolemy. These proceedings are sum- 
marized in verses 13-17. 

The downfall of Antiochus III was rapid and com- 
plete. He had ambitions toward the west. These brought 
him into conflict with Rome. He was defeated by the 
Romans at Thermopylae in ror B.c., and again at Mag- 
nesia in Asia Minor in 190 B.Cc., where his losses were 
terrific. This brought his ambitions for westward expan- 
sion to a hopeless end. He was followed by his son, Seleu- 
cus IV (187-185 B.c.), who was forced to pay heavy trib- 
ute for nine years to Rome. This king is evidently referred 
to here as the one who sends a tax collector throughout 
the kingdom.* 

The successor of Seleucus was a “‘contemptible per- 
son,” viz., Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 B.c.). The son 
of Seleucus was the lawful heir to the throne, but he was 
a mere child and he was held in Rome as a hostage. Hence 
Antiochus could and did obtain the crown by ‘‘flatteries.”’ 
He overcame all opposition. One of his first acts was to de- 
pose Onias IIT, the high priest in Jerusalem, spoken of here 
as “‘the prince of the Covenant.’’ Antiochus is described 
here as one who kept no promises, as having risen to pow- 
er through the support of a small but powerful group, and 


I Dan. 12:18-20. 


258 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


as being characterized by lavish prodigality with resources 
obtained by plunder and robbery. This is in keeping with 
what historians say of Antiochus.’ This, however, the seer 
declares, will last only so long as God wills.’ 

The vision then goes on to predict the first campaign 
of Antiochus against Egypt (170 B.c.). It foretells the de- 
feat of Ptolemy Philometor, due in part to the defection of 
his own followers, some of whom, as a matter of fact, did 
desert to the enemy. Reference is also made to the 
strained relations between Antiochus and Ptolemy after 
the latter had fallen into the power of the former, who pro- 
fessed to be his friend, though in reality he was striving to 
add Egypt to his own dominions. Then the visit of Antio- 
chus to Jerusalem and his desecration and robbery of the 
Temple are foretold in general just as they occurred. The 
second expedition against Egypt follows at once in the 
vision. The prohibition of further advance sent by Rome 
through Popilius Laena which caused Antiochus to turn 
back and vent his spleen upon Jerusalem is plainly de- 
scribed. The abolition of the continual burnt-offering and 
the erection of the altar of Zeus in the holy place are 
clearly mentioned. But the opposition of the faithful and 
the rise of the Maccabeans are recorded as affording a 
“little help.”” The conduct of Antiochus in setting at 
naught all religions and the one true God and in setting 
up for himself a “god of fortresses” is next described. 
This, too, is a transcript from the actual course of con- 
duct adopted by Antiochus.‘ 

tSee I Macc. 1:19; 3:30f.; Polybius xxvi. 10:9-11; xxxi. 4. 9; 
Athenagoras x. 52; Livy xli. 20. 

2 Dan. 11: 12-24. 


$ Dan. 11: 25-29. 4 Dan. 11: 29-39. 


DANIEL AND THE MACCABEES 259 


Finally, a new invasion of Egypt and Palestine is pic- 
tured. This is to be successful for a time, but then Antio- 
chus will hear bad news from the north and east; and on 
his way back will come to his end “between the seas and 
the beauteous holy mountain.’’* This must mean on the 
Maritime Plain skirting the Mediterranean. Here the seer 
is actually predicting the course of events. He was correct 
in that Antiochus did meet his death in 164 B.c. He was 
mistaken in locating the scene of that death, for it actu- 
ally occurred in far-off Persia. 

The prediction continues in chapter 12. A time of in- 
describable trouble is to follow the death of Antiochus. 
But every faithful Jew whose name is found recorded “‘in 
the book” will escape. This is evidently the register of the 
citizens of the messianic Kingdom. This includes those 
living on the earth and also those faithful who have passed 
away. For they will be brought back through a resurrec- 
tion to share in an everlasting messianic life. On the other 
hand, the wicked will be brought back to life to receive 
“Shame and everlasting contempt.”’ Daniel is then repre- 
sented as asking how long until these things should come 
to pass. He was told that it would be three and a half 
years. To Daniel’s further request for more specific infor- 
mation, the answer was made that from the time of the ces- 
sation of the continual burnt-offering until the messianic 
manifestation should be twelve hundred and ninety days. 
This would bring the period to an end on June 6, 164 B.c. 
But the full appearance of the messianic glory will not be 
seen for another forty-five days after June 6. | 

It is difficult for us to understand how such visionary 
and unreal representations could serve the end their au- 


1 Dan, 11: 40-45. 


260 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


thors had in creating or recording them. But the psy- 
chological point of view of that period was in some re- 
spects totally different from that of our own age. We lay 
stress upon prosaic facts and we demand reality. That 
age, in Judah at least, wished to get away from reality. 
The real was too hard to be endured. They took refuge 
readily in the imagination. They did not shrink from 
seeking to change the real into the ideal. They believed 
not so much in the “God of things as they are,” but with 
all their strength in the “God of things as they ought to 
be.”’ They believed fervently that what ought to be would 
be. And they did not fail to put themselves enthusiasti- 
cally into the task of preparing the way for the coming of 
the ideal. They actually did things that seemed impos- 
sible, and made sacrifices that are almost incredible. 
They fought and suffered, buoyed up by stories and vi- 
sions such as are found in the Book of Daniel. In the 
strength of the faith and enthusiasm nourished by this 
kind of reading and meditation they finally threw off the 
yoke of the Syrian tyrant and re-established a kingdom of 
Judah in the holy city." 


* For the ethical significance of the apocalyptic point of view, see 
J. M. Powis Smith, The Moral Life of the Hebrews (1923), pp. 313-18. 


CHAPTER XVII 


CONCLUSION 


The prophets were the crowning glory of Israel. They 
began their course amid the mists of the low-lying val- 
leys; they ended it upon the sunlit mountain tops. Other 
peoples of the ancient world had seers, soothsayers, and 
necromancers; Israel alone carried on through these lower 
levels into the higher altitudes of prophecy. The proph- 
ets were the distinguishing feature of Israel’s life. The in- 
stitutions of the Hebrew industrial and social life were in 
no essential respect different from or better than the cor- 
responding institutions in the life of her neighbors. The 
more we learn about the peoples of the world of Western 
Asia in the Hebrew period, the more similarities do we 
discover between them and the Hebrews. Even the in- 
stitutionalized ethics of Israel as found in her earliest 
codes of law are in many respects on the same plane as the 
ethical principles embodied in the Hittite code of laws. 
It is not until the prophets by their splendid courage and 
clear vision had lifted the life of Israel to a higher level 
that we are able to make comparisons that always re- 
dound to the glory of the Hebrews. It is safe to say that 
had it not been for the prophets the people of Israel would 
scarcely have been heard of in the world’s history. The 
prophets gave imperishable distinction and value to the 
record of Hebrew life. 

How did they doit? They were not gifted with knowl- 
edge or ability in a sufficiently greater degree than that 


261 


262 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


possessed by their contemporaries to furnish the explana- 
tion. They shared the world-view of their times with all 
its limitations in the way of ignorance and superstition. 
They do not commend themselves to us by their greater 
intelligence. Nor were they in one respect, at least, better 
patriots than those whom they criticized and opposed so 
strenuously. In devotion to the interests of the country, 
the men who fought to the bitter end and died rather than 
surrender the liberty of their beloved country, as did the 
Northern Israelites in 720 B.c. and the Jews in 586 B.c., 
can scarcely be granted lower rank than the prophets who 
told them their struggle was all in vain, and did their best 
to get them to lay down their arms. It is not at all nec- 
essary to give the prophets credit for greater sincerity and 
singleness of purpose in the formulation of their policies 
than those that were possessed by some of their bitterest 
opponents. The difference between them was rather one of 
standpoint and direction. The opponents of the prophets 
were men who were satisfied with the existing order. Their 
interests were involved in the maintenance of things as 
they were, and they were unable to see beyond their inter- 
ests, which at the same time seemed to them in all sincerity 
to be the interests of the country at large. Disasters did 
but spur them to greater offerings and more intense efforts 
to propitiate an angry God. They could imagine nothing 
else than that Israel’s God should glorify his people at the 
expense of their foes. The prophets, on the other hand, 
though starting with the same principle as the politicians, 
viz., that piety and prosperity were almost equivalent 
terms, probed deeper in their search for the meaning of 
the disastrous course of events in which they were in- 
volved. They were not so wedded to the past as to be 


CONCLUSION 263 


deaf to the voice of God in the present. They did not 
break with the past and strike out upon an untracked, 
open country; they held on to the past firmly with one 
hand and reached out into the future constantly with the 
other, never letting go of the assurance of the present un- 
til they had laid firm hold of some new certainty. Thus 
they moved slowly but steadily forward. 

The prophets set themselves the task of interpreting 
the history of their times in terms of God. Changing 
events kept them ever alert. With such a task before 
them, they were forced by the disasters that befell Israel 
to do some hard and painful thinking. They were forced 
by the history of their own times to revise their messages 
again and again in order to keep pace with the progress of 
the age. The Assyrians and Babylonians forced them to 
revise their conception of Yahweh from time to time until 
they finally made him God of the universe. The tragedies 
of Hebrew history challenged their best efforts and caused 
them to abandon the doctrine that goodness always pays 
substantial dividends in the coin of the world and to move 
forward to the conviction that goodness and the fear of 
God are in and of themselves supreme blessings and are to 
be cherished for their own sake, no matter what the course 
of events may be. They started with a message that gave 
little attention to the needs and interests of the individ- 
ual, but concentrated itself upon the welfare of the state 
and the community. They ended by making the individ- 
ual person’s fate a matter of vital interest to God, and by 
looking forward to a Kingdom of God made up of re- 
generated individuals. They began their career by mak- 
ing Israel the favorite of God, and by looking upon all 
other peoples as destined to minister to Israel’s glory. 


264 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


They ended by making Israel the “Servant of God” upon 
whom great sufferings were imposed by God in order that 
the spectacle of the suffering servant might open the eyes 
of the nations to their sins and lead them to repentance 
and grateful recognition of the goodness of God. When 
the national history of Israel came to a disastrous end, 
they refused to surrender their faith and persisted in 
painting pictures of a glorious messianic age in which 
Israel should be rewarded for all she had suffered. The 
darker the outlook was, the brighter did their hopes glow. 

When we seriously consider and thoroughly appreciate 
what the prophets did for Israel and through Israel for 
humanity, we inevitably share the sentiment breathed 
forth by an ancient student of prophecy: 


Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets! 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


A. PROPHECY 


Batten, L. W., The Hebrew Prophet. New York: Macmillan Co., 
1905. 

Buttenwieser, Moses, The Prophets of Israel. New York: Mac- 
millan Co., 1914. 

Cadbury, H. J., National Ideals tn the Old Testament. New York: 
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920. 


Gordon, A. R., The Prophets of the Old Testament. New York: 
Hodder & Stoughton, 1916. 

Robinson, T. H., Prophecy and the Prophets. New York: Charles 
Scribner’s Sons, 1923. 

Skinner, John, Prophecy and Religion. Cambridge: University 
Press, 1922. 

Smith, H. P., The Religion of Israel. New York: Charles Scribner’s 
Sons, 1914. 

Smith, J. M. Powis, The Moral Life of the Hebrews. Chicago: Uni- 
versity of Chicago Press, 1923. 


Smith, J. M. Powis, The Prophet and His Problems. New York: 
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1914. 


B. HISTORY 

Breasted, J. H., History of Egypt (2d ed.). New York: Charles 
Scribner’s Sons, 1909. 

Hall, H. R., The Ancient History of the Near East (5th ed.). Lon- 
don: Methuen & Co., 1920. 

Luckenbill, D. D., The Annals of Sennacherib. Chicago: University 
of Chicago Press, 1924. 

Noyes, C., The Genius of Israel. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 
1924. 

265 


266 THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Olmstead, A. T., History of Assyria. New York: Charles Scribner’s 
Sons, 1923. 

Smith, George Adam, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land 
(13th ed.). New York: Hodder & Stoughton, 1906. 

Smith, George Adam, Jerusalem. 2 vols. New York: A. C. 
Armstrong & Son, 1908. 

Smith, H. P., Old Testament History. New York: Charles Scribner’s 
Sons, 1903. 


SUBJECT INDEX 


Abed-nego, 245 

“Abomination of desolation,” 242 

Adad-nirari ITI, 44 

Adonijah, 26 f. 

Ahab, 31 ff. 

Ahijah, 29 f. 

Alexander the Great, 228, 251, 252, 
255 

Alliances, foreign, 63 f. 

Altar, Greek, 242 

Amasis, 178 

Amon, 106 

Amos, 45 

Anathoth, 138, 155 

Ancient of Days, 252 

Antiochus IT, 256 

Antiochus III, 256, 257 

Antiochus IV, 240ff., 249, 251, 
252, 253, 254f., 257 ff. 

Apocalypticism, 175 f. 

Apocalyptics, 237, 238 f. 

Ashurbanipal, 106 


Assyria; 43 [., sof., 52 f., 75, 81, 
105, 122 1., 127 


Astyages, 178 


Baalism, 61 

Bardes, 194 

Baruch, 142 f. 

Bel-shazzar, 178, 248, 249, 250 
Berenice, 256 

“Branch,” 200, 202 


Cambyses, 194 
Carchemish, 123, 127, 134 
Caria, 178 

Chaldeans, 129 
Circumcision, 242 
Cleopatra, 257 


Conservatism, 41 

Croesus, 178 

Cyaxares, 177 f. 

Cyrus, 178 ff., 182, 192, 251 


Daniel, 240-60 

Darius, 194 ff. 

Darius I, 249 

Darius IIT, 228 

Darius, the Mede, 249, 251 

David, 22 ff. 

Day of Yahweh, 53 ff., 108 f., 198, 
217 {., 220 ff., 232 f. 

Death, 237 

Deborah, 12 ff. 

Demetrius, 251 

Deportation, 80 f. 


Ebed-melech, 156 

Economic life, 193 

PestasyyS't.1) 17,040,148 f..c144, 
161 f, 

Edom, 214 f. 

Egypt, 53, 135, 236, 241, 257 

Elijah, 36-42 

Elisha, 36-42 

Epiphanes, 240 

Erech, 178 

Esarhaddon, 106 

Eschatology, 53 ff., 102, 238 

Ethics, 208, 239 

Evil-Merodach, 177 

Ezekiel, 161-76, 196, 239 

Ezra, 220 


Faith, 72, 86, 117, 131 ff., 139, 140, 
166, 173 f. i 

Faithfulness, 131 f. 

False prophets, 36 


267 


268 


Gabriel, 253 

Gad, 23 f. 

Gaumata, 194 
Gobryas, 178 

God, idea of, 51 f., 70 
Golden Age, 204, 211 
Greece, 228 f., 233, 252 
Greek oracles, 104 


Habakkuk, 127 ff. 

Haggai, 192 ff., 196 

Hananiah, 151 f. 

Hannah, 17 

Heliodorus, 251 

Herodotus, 90, 106 f., 192 

Holiness, 67 f., 197 f. 

Homesickness, 193 

Hope, 64, 148, 167, 172f., 108, 
203 f., 238 

Hosea, 55 ff.; marriage of, 57 ff. 

Huldah, 117 


Idealism, 160, 188, 206, 260 
Idolatry, 181, 208 

Images, 62 

Immanuel, 72 f. 
Individuals, 10, 189 

Isaiah, 67 ff.; call of, 68 
Issus, 228 


Jason, 241 

Jehoiakim, 136 f., 142 

Jehu, son of Hanani, 31 
Jeremiah, 110 ff., 125, 134-60 
Jeroboam I, 209 ff. 

Jeroboam IT, 44 f. 

Jerusalem, 1o1; fall of, 157, 164 f. 
Jesus, 190 

Jezebel, 31, 39, 41 

Joel, 229 ff. 

Jonah, 220-27 

Joshua, 197, 202 f. 

Josiah, 135 

Judas Maccabeus, 243 f. 


THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Karkar, 32 f. 


Labashi-Marduk, 177 
Laodice, 256 

Love, 183 f. 

Lydia, 178 


Magnesia, 257 

Malachi, 207, 215 ff. 

Manasseh, 106 

Marathon, 255 

Mattathias, 242 f. 

Medes, 177 f., 246 

Meluchha, 84, 87 

Menahem, 66 

Menelaus, 241, 254 

Merodach-baladan, 82, 86, 92 

Mesha, king of Moab, 33 f. 

Meshach, 245 

Messiah, 252, 254 

Messianism, 102 ff., 
204 ff. 

Micah, 97 ff. 

Micaiah ben Imlah, 35 

Missionary, 226 f. 

Morality, 47, 80 

Mosaic Law, 218 

Mount of Olives, 236 

Music, 7 

Mysticism, 161 f. 


IQI, 200, 


Nabonidus, 177, 248 

Naboth, 41 

Nabuna’id, 177 f. 

Nahum, 123 ff. 

Nakedness, 84 

Nathan, 25 ff. 

Nebuchadrezzar, 123, 127, 134f., 


147, 150f., 153, 177, 245, 248, 
251 


Nehemiah, 220 
Nergal-shar-usur, 177 
Neriglissar, 177 
Nineveh, 122, 221 


SUBJECT INDEX 


Nomads, 7, 30, 40 f. 


Obadiah, 207, 214 f. 
Omnipotence, 183 
Omri, 31 

Onias III, 241, 254, 257 
Opis, 178 


Patriotism, 35, 36 

Pedagogy, 221 f. 

Pharaoh-Hophra, 160 

Pharaoh Necho, 122 f. 

Philistines, 15 f. 

Politics, ro f. 

Popilius Laena, 258 

Prediction, 152, 182 

Priesthood, 84 f., 119, 161 

Prophet: inspiration of, 4; mean- 
ing of, 3; oracle of, 3; remunera- 
tion of, 8 f. 


Prophetess, 12 

Prophets: false, 99, 151; groups 
of, 2; sons of, I-11 

Prosperity, 97 

Ptolemy I, 255 

Ptolemy ITI, 234 

Ptolemy IV, 234, 256 

Ptolemy V, 256 

Ptolemy VII, 251 

Ptolemy Epiphanes, 257 

Ptolemy Euergetes, 256 

Pul, 56 


“Queen of the heavens,” 159 


Rahab, 92 

Raphia, 256 

Reform, Deuteronomic, 117 fl. 
Regeneration, 173 

Remnant, 70 

Responsibility, personal, 169 f. 
Resurrection, 173, 238, 250 
Ritual, 47, 48 f., 50, 208, 239 
Rome, 242, 257 f. 


269 


Sabbath, 208, 242 


Sacrifice: human, 113, 168; ritual 
of, 116 


Salamis, 255 

Samaria, tor f, 

Samuel, 15 ff. 

Sargon, 82 ff. 

Satan, 200 

Saul, 18 ff.; rejection of, 20 ff. 
Scriptures, 242 

Scythian songs, 114 ff. 
Scythians, 106 ff., 143 

Seers, 2 

Seleucus I, 255 f. 

Seleucus ITI, 256 

Seleucus IV, 251 
Sennacherib, 86 ff. 

Sensuality, 63 

Servant of Yahweh, 185 ff., 200 
Servant Songs, 184 ff. 
Shabaka, 83 

Shadrach, 245 


Shalmanezer III, 32f., 43, 51; 
inscription of, 32 f. 


Shalmanezer IV, 78 

Shear-jashub, 70 

Signs, 73 

Skepticism, 216, 217 

Slaves, 154 

So, 78 

Solidarity, social, 169, 189 ff. 

Solomon, 28 f. 

Son, meaning of, 1 

Sparta, 178 

Suffering, 78, 188 ff. 

Superstition, 164, 166, 208 

Sycamore, 45 

Syro-Ephraimitish War, 69, 70 f. 

Temple: dedication of, 244; plun- 
der of, 241 

Thebes, 126 

Thermopylae, 255, 257 


270 


Tiglath-Pileser, 56, 66f., 73 £. 
Tirhaka, 91 

Trance, 161 ff. 

Truth-telling, 156 f. 


Urartu, 52 f., 66 f., 83 
Vengeance, 207-19 


Visions, 161 ff., 
250 ff. 


199 ff., 243 ff., 


Whale, 224 


THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


Women, 79, 120 f, 166. 
Worship, 1109 f. 


Xenophon, 192 
Xerxes, 251, 255 


Zechariah, 192 ff., 196, 108 ff. 
Zedekiah, 156 
Zephaniah, 108 ff. 


Zerubbabel, 197 ff., 198, 201 ff., 
204, 207 
Zeus, altar of, 254 


INDEX OF BIBLICAL PASSAGES 


Gen. 5:32 1 
fe ee a 
Exod. 3:12 73 
4:10-16 3 
ie Ree ae 
9:12 168 
Io:r 168 
13:12f. 168 
22:20f. 168 
34:19 f. 168 
Lev. 26:18, 21, 24, 28 
Nom.) 518251., 29° 4 
24:2-4 6 
24:2 4 
Deut. 18:18 4 
Judg. chap. 4 
4:4 12 
chap. 5 12f. 
I Sam. 3:19—4:1a 17 
:1—6:2r (16 
erate 17 
REG.) ATO 
21-22 19 
:I—I10:9 I9 
dy | ae Be) 
16 3 
wt, 8 


253 


12 f, 


ODDO 0 ONN SL 


7O{5-13) 5 
CeO cllehe | 

z028 7 
10:6,10 4 
10325-2720 
aX i-1T, 15. 20 
Ei46" 4 

Bip 2-t44)°20 
chap. 12 22 


chan. 13.20 
rAS52 ES 
chap. 15 20 


£5323 1.9" 22 
50° 3-73" 22 
TO013 4 
18:10 6 
EB2z7) °I 
19:19-24 5 


271 


I Sam. 19:20 2 
20:31 1 
20° Sif oyi4 
Dee ta 


Pe RAC ee fe) le 


2087 1ah3 
CHAR gt Wp ie: 


II Sam. 


I Kings 


ei ha ee Tt 
Se 033 
E2326.) 20 
Esco 19 
252%, 03 
22520424 
23:9-17 18 
24:I1I-14 24 
7A Neda OE 
chap. 1 26 
js a 
Oraai4'26 
y ca witeae to) 
Gots C7125 
9:26 28 
LO ott 20 
TO. 2220 
11:26 ff. 28 
11220-2320) 30 
II:29-32 20 
chap. 13 30 
14:1 ff. 30 
14:1-18 30 
14:1-6,17f. 30 
1473) °S 
TOUT-7:) 3E 
TStATLS 
18:19 ff., 33-35 38 
18:46 4 
chap. 20 32 
20:22-28 35 
20:35-43 35 
21:19 41 
chap. 22 34 
A252 tas 
22) 5 fas 
22°20 22g 
22:17 f., 19-23, 28 35 
28:8 35 


272 


THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


II Kings 1:9 ff. 38 


I Chron. 


10 
13 


15 


17 
17 


17: 
rh 
I 
18: 
18: 
18: 
:90-35 80 f. 
20: 
22: 
23: 
aR: 
oe 
chap. 24 

4 bapa ky) 


19 


24 


24: 
24: 
24: 
2c: 
2s: 

9: 
One 
os: 
26: 
29: 


21 


OO COAMNAPWWWHW HN DN ND 


I-12. 38 


73) 5) 7, 15 39 
SO,115 tea 

reek weed a ihe fe) 
I-19 7 

‘4-27 §1 

:4 fo 34 

715 4 

598 ties 
:1§-27 9 

rR eg fe 

‘7-9 9 

i 

"36.1, (at 

IO: 
129 T: 
75,7. 441. 
rs: 
14: 
14: 
153 
1S’ 
ST! 
16: 
16: 
[1-06-79 
‘gf. 75 


18 ff. 39 
43 


2553s 
25-27 45 
25. °220 
19f. 56 
290 74 


1 198 
7-18 75 


hh Mare 
13492 

24 ff. 80 
13—20: 21 
14-16 89 
17—19:9a oof. 


I2-I9 92 
12-20 I17 
26 169 
290-35 
39-35 


134 
123 


147 


6 137 
14-16 
17 148 
T7155 
Bet ates 
222 


148 


eu: 
28 2 
20 2 


88 ff. 


II Chron. 9:29 2 


Ezra 1:1-4 
Job chap. 3 
Pst 739 


T2215 
1057,:10 a 
102022 
21:1 
24:20 
29:30 
33:13 
35:15 
407 Geia7 
367305. 
30°22 a) 

192 

147 
214 


i) 


WNHHNHHN 


253 
192 


Prov. 10:1 “£ 


Isa. 


T7725 7% 

1071s ay 

22-17, 21-23 o4f. 
6 


Sc9 a0 
218-20 83, 8&5 
:6-21 69 
[I-15 (760 
:14f. 69 
:16—4:1I. 79 
716-24 69 
ap. 5 238 
21-24. 60 
78-24 83, 85 
125-29 69 
TU 07 
712,:/53 1700 
2 Ours 
AY rie. 

ae, ft. 
:14-16 72f. 
717-25 75 
318-20 75 
Bee SG 
8:5-22 75 
8:6-8a 76 
8:11-18 76 
8:16-18 77, 102 
chap.g 103 f. 
Q:I-17 153 
9:1-6 204f. 
9:8—10:4 69 
10:28-32 84 
chap. 11 103 f. 
II:I-Q 153, 205 f. 
14:28-32 79 
20:1 ff. 83 


=r 


CONTIN NTST DADAM OW WWW D He eI 


Isa. 20: 


21 


25 


27 


32 
32 
33° 


21-23 
22: 
22: 
chaps. 24-27 
24: 
25° 
:6-8 
26: 
26: 
:2-6 
27° 
Py 
28: 
28: 
28: 
a0: 
20: 
29: 
30: 
30: 
30: 
eT 
chap. 32 
21-8 

79-14 79 f. 


INDEX OF BIBLICAL PASSAGES 


1,3 58 
237 
I-4,13f. 94 
15-19 83, 85 
236 fi. 
I-23 237 
I-5, 9-12 
237 
I-97 235 
Dar Fee 


238 


237 
237 f: 
Writ (230 
rote 237 
1-4 80 
7-29 83, 85 
15-18 85 
1-4 83, 85 
of. 94 
toy 2 
ii? O21, 
Q-II 103 
Oi 
I~3 92 
103 f. 
206 


17-24 206 


chap. 35 179 
chaps. 36-38 88 ff. 


37: 


nS 


chap. 39 92 


chaps. 40-55 
40: 
40: 
40: 
40: 
40: 
40: 
41: 
:6f. 182 


41 


Ar: 
AY: 
4I: 
41: 
41: 
42: 
42: 
42: 
42: 


42 


42: 
POT 


43 


179 ff., 184, 194 
3-11 I9Q1 

3-5 194 

e180 
12-20 
18-20 
21-26 
2-4, 25 


180 

182 

180 
183 


ei emios, ts 
Io 6186 
17-19 
18-20 
21-29 
i=5 186 
I-4 184 
r 186 
5f. 186 


194 
191 
182 


:9 182 


18-20 185 


182 


Isa. 


Jer. 


273 


43:19-21 
43:20 186 
Aa Ti wore 26 
10-5) 152 
44:9-19 181f. 
44:28 183 
A5o eo tod 
45:4 185f. 
{T7162 
46:3 186 

‘Ol is2 
46:11 183 
48:12 186 
PUAN IOS 
114 182 

vi0 4 
48:21 194 
:1-6 184, 186 


ey bate] 
is Toast oO tT. 
'Q71t 194 
jTA=TORELSS 
:4-9 184, 187 f. 
STOUTTOS 
52:13—53:12 
ERcoa TOT 
Des 187 
4:0-16) 1134 
cee 56-66 
6673-7. 208 
S720 20m 
BOSS a 7s Oke 
SO: ak 205 
59:1f.,Q-II 200 
5023 by 7) 12, 15 
chap. 60 211-14 
Oia 4 
61:5 207 
61:8 208 
chap. 62 
chap. 63 214 
¢I-0 9206 
F15-O4at et 
oF 205 
TO-2n Sit 
seieestan etal) 
120-2 te 201 
Teast 1O 
£20 t00 TH04; 
T:9 4 
I:10 
gh a 


194 
185 f. 


184, 187 


207 


208 


208 


211 


209 ff. 


141 
III, 140 


274 
yer 


COMMON ANAMUNNH AW OND HH 


THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


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[1310 140 

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et Mic Lene ee 
Fie Ac Yes ANI Be 
!19——4:4 I14 
15,0 Pars 
LOMO ca Tay 
AN tees «AOU ah 

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120-25 210 

Hh ae Ott 6 


237-07) 115 
22-20 Arts 
I-I§ 137 
Paras 18 gh Whe 


[O00 

MEIh 1540 
:20 I4!1 
P24 par 
1+o4 “E10 
:15-17 | 140 
RLOeS Lao 
2201.) 144 
:I-5 139 
:3 144 
{9-12 \T40 
:¥-1Tr 130 
$15+-27 ‘140 
Ae Cave Lo. 
chaps. 14-20 
14: 
14: 
TS: 
Bie eat 
215-18 144 
Y © be Sy Gah YI 
:18 144 
:I-10 \144 
:18-20 144 
:18 145 
:20ff. 144 
ah gh aU eg Ba 
:I0-12@ 146 
:14f. 146 
Sa—3"''t46 
:9—I1° 347 
212 vas 

20: 


IO-I12 144 
13-16 144 
s-of. 144 


14-18 147 


chap. 21 153 


22. 
22: 


I, 10-19 135 
18f. 136 


143 ff. 


Jera2 


224-30 148 


chap. 24 148 
24:1 ff. r40 
chap. 25 141 


25 
26 
27 
27 


“rSelis a TAL 
:18f. 97, 104 
:I-II 150 
712-22 I51 


chap. 28 151 


28 
28 


chap. 29 
se aR ORE LD f= 
$31-34 158 


29 
31 


>5-9 104 
EO iT ALT 2 


149, 163, 193 


chap. 32 155 


34: 
TOcLL . £54 


34 


34: 
‘IIT 7 

:I-10 «142 f. 
11-23, 3200tas 
:18, 28 112 
e101 ea 

75 154 

STIers rss 
(LORok eres 
SII-I4 157 
1§-18 156 

i oss Oa Se 


I-§ 153 


12-22. 154 


40 
chap. 41 158 
chap. 42 158 
chap. 43 158 


44: 
44: 
44:15-19 159 
124-20 nt0G 
chaps. 46-51 

790, 14-16 214 


44 
49 


I-14 159 
I5-30 159 


141 f. 


Lam. 4:21 f. 214 


Ezek. 


Lit ASOD 

4 ey | 

78-33 175 
79--3:5 162 
be War. Hy (0 

SEA WT Oe 
'16-21:) 100 
:22—-5:17 165 
22 161 

3:26 162 
chap. 5 170 
6:4-6 164 
chaps. 8-11 163 


WWWWH HD HD 


INDEX OF BIBLICAL 


Ezek. 8:1 4, 161 

8:3) 163 

8:7-14 164 

8:12 164 

8:16 164 

T1is) 4 

ESTE Le HTOs 
Ta. 1 7-aT 107 
chap. 12 165 

pe Tole EO alae 
t2:91-26) 164 
r371+16 (166 
13:10,16 164 
13717-23. 166 
chap. 14 166 
T45y t. 164 
14:10f. 164 
I4:12-20 164 
14:221. 164 
chap. 15 166 
chap. 16 166 

57 349-24° 107 
18:1-32 168 
Touts) 104 

18:2 168 

19 74,-0, 13, 17 1.6100 
18:20 ff. 169 
18:25, 29 164, 169 
18:30-32 169 
20:1-26 167 
20:33-44 167 
chap. 22 166 
chap. 23 167 
Ae 5.570 
94527169 
chap. 25 171 
chaps. 26-28 171 
chaps. 27-28 171 
Oe ER aig 
chaps. 29-32 171 
0:21 162, 171 
chaps. 33-39 172 
33:1-20 169 
aan10 1, 372 
aa;92 (4, 16rf. 
chap. 35 214 
aOn aa, 32°) 273 
20325 ff. 173 
enan.s7 (163, 172'f. 
a7 oa vA, TOT 
AU ek 172 
37:15-28 173 


Ezek. 


Hos. 


PASSAGES 275 


a5S107 23193 
38:17 173 
39:6, 7, 27f. 173 
chaps. 40-48 163, 172 ff. 
40:1 161 
40:I—43:12 174 
43:13-27 174 
43:19 175 
chap. 44 174 
44:0-14 175 
44:15 175 
45:1-8 175 
45:9—46:24 174 
4721-12 174 T. 
47:13-23 175 
48:1-35 175 
48:11 175 


. chaps. 1-6 244 


chap. I 244 
chap. 2 245 
chap. 6 246 
6:29 249 
chap. 7 251 
chap. 8 252 
chap.g 253 
T1i9-9))) 250 
RLS 3724.) 980 
TIA 25-20 258 
II:29-39 258 
chap. 12 259 
T28IO='O) 1450 
t2:11f, (250 
2713-7 70257 
1335-20 1257 
chaps. 1-3. 56 ff. 
Eo 2sa 
Bigors5 

‘At OF 
:Io—2:1 64 
Seer a. GO 
08 ap he UN oP 
214-16 64 
ST 54330 OF 
75 64 

.Gte G2 

cP tay Og 


bRWHDNDDND DN H 


276 


Hos. 


THE PROPHETS AND THEIR TIMES 


:8-12 63 
30, 55, 63 
62 


14:4-9 64 


Joel x 


I 


72-14 
: 16-20 


chap. 2 230 


Obad. 


231d, 2; 91. 1230 
2050/13) 0) 2 2+14 230 
aera th 232 

Adit sme Oe ees 

bets mec A RY 

ae 
3 
3 
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251. 4 


PI" 1233 
As ger pil teed 


tT: cas 
76-8 47 
Bicep ¥ be! 
T7860 

4 19640 
73-6 49, 55, 70 
:14f. 49, 55, 70 
215-2054 
321-25 49 
:27 53 
°7,14 53 
[10-17 9 
:12f. 46 
S172 

‘14 1, 45 
717 46, 53 
74-6 48 
780-15 55 
I-7€ 214 
10-14 214 
15b 214 


0 CONTIN ATA ANNNUNNnhh Pb 


Jonah 4:10 1 


Mic. 


Nah. 


Hab. 


1:5,6 97 
L373 1t 00 
2:12, 139 0o 
3:1-4 99 
3°5-38 100 
te oP 

3:9-12 100 
chaps. 4-7 98 
714 98 
2-0-5154 
Q-12 98 
9-16 98 
1-6 98 
‘I-10, 12f. 125 
PIT, 1470045 
ity ind To 
$27 4-14 eos 
SI-19 127 
[2-4 128 
:6-10 129 
SIT E2520 
[13-17 129 
°4,5 130 


DHHHHWKHD HHT OUNNS 


Zeph. 1:10f. 108 


Hag. 


Zech. 


1:14-18 109 
I<1y 19006 
Te2-11-) 100 
212-18 toy 
I:I5 1096 
2351-50107 
2:1 196 
2:10-19 198 
2:10 196 
2:20 1096 
2:23) (202 
7c oe Oe 
:1;°7 9 100 
*7-17 199 
S1S=2 att oo 
:I~5 199 
:6-13 199 
:6 ff. 200 
200 
200 
4:6b-10a 2o00f. 
4:7,9 202 

5 I-Tirw 208 
6:1-8 201 
6:9-15 20rf., 204 
6:13 202 
chap. 7 203 
ai Tero 


WHNND HHH A 


Q 
> 
2 & 
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- 
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INDEX OF BIBLICAL PASSAGES 277 


Zech. chap. 8 203 Mal. 2:17—3:6 217 
chaps. 9-14 233 ff. 3:7-12 217f. 
Q:1-8 233 3213—433)) 218 
90:90-17 233 I Macc. 1:19 258 
IO:I-I2 234 1:54 253 
Te OS fi. 234 r:62f. 247 
I2:I—13:6 235 3:30f. 258 
13:4-6 8 Ace 2 en 2ss 
£3° 7.1... 235 II Macc. 6:18 ff. 247 
chap. 14 235f. yA IR? PG 
Mal. 1:2-5 216 Matt. 3:4 7 
1:6—2:9 216 12:40 224 
2:10-16 216f. Heb. 10:38 130 


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